World Similarities Book 1
by Intrestsofthemind
Summary: Soren was an average gamer who never really liked the situation he lived in. His life wasn't a happy one. The only thing he could turn to was his games. Then his wish comes true, he's whisked into the gaming world he loves, yet this is very different from the world he knew. Along the way he will meet friends and foes alike in his quest.
1. Chapter 1

To end up in a situation like this… I guess you could call me unlucky. Here I am in a forest like area, running from a horde of Moblins. Before I decide to continue I guess I should start at the beginning.

My name is Soren Thain, I'm sixteen, and I'm a pretty average kid in terms of everyone else. I enjoy gaming mostly and some of my favorite games are the classics back when games still had that level of difficulty you can't get in some of the newer games. Games like the legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. etc.

I sat on the bus home from school, staring out the window listening to the music on my phone and fiddling with my black jacket's zipper and tearing the Velcro on and off my fingerless gloves. As the bus stopped I stood up, grabbing my backpack and taking off my headphones I rushed off the bus in a sprint. I always loved running home and today I was much more motivated to get home. Today, I was feeling in a gaming mood, which of course meant I wanted to pile drive through a pile of games and play for the rest of the day. I burst through the door into my room and threw my backpack on to my bed and pulled out my 3DS. I turned it on and pulled out my first game-

"Soren!"

Crap. My sister. I put my game system down and headed to see what she needed. I entered the door adjacent to mine and saw her sprawled out on her bed in a lazy fashion.

"Can you bring me a glass of milk?"

Of course.

"Sure thing." I left the room with a small scowl. She did this… A LOT. I learned to just suck it up and head to the kitchen to pour her a glass of milk. After getting her the glass of milk I headed back to my room and re-loaded up my game-

"Soren!"

And that would be my dad. I slammed my 3DS closing it and headed downstairs. I rushed to his room to see him sitting in his underwear and shirt playing games.

"Can you get me a re-fill on ice tea?"

I sighed and grabbed the glass he always used that was covered in tea stains. I got him the refill and headed back to my room. Turning my game back on and-

"Soren!"

"Soren!"

That was it; I closed the game and put it away realizing that I was not going to be able to play today. It was like this everyday, I go to school, come back and my sister and dad always call me to complain or get them something. It got to the point where I had more fun at school than at home. Everyday I get home and just want to spend my time alone but they always call me for something. I was sick of it. But I was to weak to say no, and I didn't want to cause any problems at home. We weren't the richest family but we got by well enough. My dad has diabetes and refuses to look after it so he spends most of the day in bed and my older sister is trying to get work but doesn't seem to really be trying. My mom works all day so that leaves me to look after the home front. Everyday… weather I like it or not I have to look after those two couch potatoes. It's not like I couldn't say no but if I did I felt as though things would get worse for my mother if I did that and she was screamed at by my sister enough. I didn't want to give her more problems. So I sucked it up and did my part. But playing that part was sickening; I hated it. It felt like my life was not my own to live, as though I lived for the soul purpose of serving those two.

By the time I was done with what they needed it was 9:30 pm; 30 minutes before my bedtime. I plopped onto my bed and punched it repeatedly in anger. I gave a heavy sigh, tired from how I was treated in this family. I just wanted things to be different.

At that moment a bright flash came from my 3DS. I looked over and saw text had appeared in the upper screen.

= YOU WANT THINGS TO BE DIFFERENT? =

-Yes No

It was so bizarre, as though the gaming system had read my mind. I absentmindedly pressed yes. Suddenly a bright light enveloped the room and I couldn't see. Suddenly I heard a female voice.

"Then let's try something different."

After that everything went dark.

I slowly opened my eyes adjusting to the bright sunlight that flooded my vision. As I propped my hand on the ground I felt grass wave through my fingers as the cool wind hit my face. The sun was bright making it hard to see and making my brown hair feel hot. I looked around and noticed that I was in a wide-open grassy field with a dense looking forest to one side and a river farther down the other way. I looked down at myself and noticed my clothes had changed. My black jacket was now a full black trench cloak that went down to my feet, brushing across the grass and my fingerless gloves had lost the Velcro that kept them on my hands making them fit much more comfortably. My jeans were now leather pants that felt awkward on my skin and my red shirt was tighter cotton. But the biggest difference was the wooden sword on my back.

"Where am I?" I asked myself standing up. Suddenly I saw a creature make its way towards me. It was to far away to see what it was but it was something alive that was for sure. I rushed towards it to see what it was and suddenly a big rock came hurtling towards me. I quickly dove left avoiding it and pulled out the wooden sword strapped to my back. The creature came into view and it looked like a tiny red octopus with a large mouth. Wait… I've seen that before… no, it can't be.

"An octorock?"

It shot another rock at me and I quickly swung my sword knocking it out of the way. I lunged at the creature and stabbed it causing it to explode in a cloud of white smoke leaving behind a blue gem. I took a moment to collect my thoughts and realize what was happening.

"All right. So apparently I'm in Hyrule and judging by the lack of towns in any vicinity I am apparently in the Zelda 1 Hyrule. Now the only question is, HOW DID I GET HERE!" As I shouted I could hear a faint rustling behind me and when I looked over I saw moblins. Not just a few moblins but at least 30 of them. I quickly got to my feet and started running. This is where my life took a turn for the strange.


	2. Chapter 2

I darted around trees trying to escape the horde of creatures after me. They were surveying the area, looking for me as I hid. I couldn't fight them all; I barely know how to fight! I looked left and right trying to find a way to escape from this chase. I darted out of the forest and saw a group of octorocks staring in my direction, probably startled by the loud noises as I cut through bushes and stepped on branches. I darted to the left as now moblins AND octorocks were on my tail. Suddenly I saw a hollowed out tree right across the upcoming bridge surrounded by water. I dash ahead going across the bridge. When I got across I saw that the tree had a large walk-in opening. I dived into the opening and bent over putting my hands on my knees and panting. I know I like to run but sprinting that much was exhausting! This was crazy; here I was in a completely different world running from creatures I would have normally taken down like flies in a video game. It's a different experience seeing their snarling faces with all the traits you would see of a horror movie monster. Snarling, dead eyes, angry look and the killing intent could be felt from the first moment you looked at them. It was surreal to think about these things ripping into a person with the soul intent of silencing them permanently. That thought made me cringe in horror. I shook off that thought and looked over into the depths of the tree noticing a set of stairs going down to a metal door. Must be a way out, or maybe a safe refuge. I opened the door hoping to find safety but inside was anything but safety.

The inside was made of stone, torches lined the walls and there was a large opening in front of me. I got a strange sense of danger from crossing into the room but I brushed it off sitting down on the stone floor.

"Okay…" I started talking, hoping that thinking out loud would help me verify my thoughts, "Based on the enemies I encountered it's only natural to think I'm in the world of Hyrule, but which one?" I thought for a moment on what I had seen coming here. There was the clearing I woke up in meaning that this world was empty enough to have a giant clearing. There was also the large dense forest that I moved through but that was in all the games. Then the key factor was the sudden change in topography from field to forest to island and the overwhelming number of enemies. Which could only mean one thing, "This is the very first Hyrule, and how it looked back in 1986." This means, if memory serves correct, "This is the very first dungeon of the game!" I took in the information I had confirmed all at once. It was insane; I was IN Hyrule! It didn't seem possible. Suddenly I noticed a foul odor waft under my nose. I couldn't recognize this scent at all. It was strange considering how much rotting food and leftover messes I had smelled. With how wasteful my sister was with food I was able to recognize a wide variety of foul and bitter smells and compare them to make a proper analysis. But this smell was completely new and made me shiver; something about this smell was bad. I followed the smell to discover the origin and realized why I had never smelled this before. Before me was a body, rotting and cold. This smell was the scent of death.

It was Link, the hero of this story, dead in front of me. He was torn apart; the only thing recognizable was the green tunic he was wearing, which was now shredded and the hat untouched by the carnage the rest had faced. The smell was the smell of his rotting flesh and blood. I felt as though I was about to gag, feeling the egg sandwich I had before I got here wanting to make a reappearance. This was a sight I wasn't expecting in this game, the octorock had disappeared in a puff of smoke but the sight before me was the remains of a human being. I picked up the green pointed hat feeling sorry for the hero who died. Suddenly a piece of paper fell out of the cap, I picked it up noticing the English text it displayed.

[FINISH THE STORY]

This was odd for two reasons. One, in this world they used a Hylian text far different from English letters. Two, whoever left this here, is also a human from modern earth as this is the only sign of normalcy in this world compared to mine. But the phrase "Finish this story." Meant that whoever it was who left this left it for me.

"But Why?"

I felt like something was very wrong with this picture. Why me? I don't belong here. I can't do this. I'm just a seventeen year old from Colorado; I came from a suburban home. I've never had to face perilous danger like this world had.

Another note fluttered down.

[I THOUGHT YOU WANTED SOMETHING DIFFERENT?]

Was that why I was here? This was insane! First of all, how did I get here? There was no way this should have been possible. This was a video game, something that was made up by people from my world. Yet this was a world that was as real as I was, everything around me was real, everything I touched had feeling to it, everything I saw moved to its own motion. The fire flickered and tiny bugs moved across the cold floor. This world was real there was no doubt of that. Which meant this world could very well kill me. Was there no other way out? I took a deep breath and gathered myself; if I want to get home I have to. I took a deep breath and cringed realizing that I was still near the body of this stories hero… well, previous hero.

"Right, well… I'd better search his body for supplies."

Even I couldn't believe the words I was saying, but if I was going to survive I was going to need what I could get. I braced myself and started searching. In my search I found a utility belt with a candle inside and 40 rupees. It was covered in a small amount of blood but I doubt I could have found anything else as helpful. I attached it around my waist locking my sheath with my wooden sword onto it. I looked at the opening to the dungeon feeling the goose bumps on my body go off in rapid succession making me clench my arms in fear and cold. I could still run and hide. I've never fought monsters in real life before.

"No. I have to do this."

I shakily walked up to it crossing the threshold of the opening stepping into the dungeon steeling myself for the countless dangers I would face and the untold horrors that was behind the danger.


	3. Chapter 3

As I entered the room I saw a small group of three skeletons pacing the room. They suddenly stopped and faced me. I unsheathed my wooden sword ready to charge them. They charged at me swinging wildly forcing me to back up. I was against a wall as the swung down at me. I rolled to the left narrowly avoiding their swords and plunged my blade through all three of them making them disappear in a puff of smoke. That was weird though, because this isn't a game so the creatures he defeats should leave a corpse. Was it because they were Gannon's minions? Maybe they disappeared because they aren't actually organic creatures. That would explain why Link left a body while the skeleton's existence just disappeared. Weather it was organic or not though didn't matter if I couldn't beat a group of skeletons without getting exhausted.

"Looks like I'll just have to get better."

After a while of following a map I found I was in a room with a diamond of small stones in the center. After making sure I wasn't caught in between two of those blade rollers I pushed all the stones knowing that one of them was the movable stone. After getting to the center I headed down the ladder knowing that there was a bow at the bottom of it. After playing this game I got a pretty good idea of where I was going and what I could find or get right now. After getting the bow I headed back up; with the dungeon item I could head for the boss room without any regrets. But I feel like I'm forgetting something.

After a while of absentmindedly walking I was in a room with three goriyas. As they threw boomerangs I maneuvered around each one and struck them down. After a few enemies I was starting to get the hang of fighting and with an actual body I was fighting with much more freedom than I ever did in the game. I could move quicker and strike precisely. I looked down and noticed a boomerang on the ground. I forgot that when you defeat this group of goriyas you get a boomerang. I picked it up and threw it; once it stopped it came back at me shocking me with its speed. I held out my hands and caught it in relief. I stayed there for a minute practicing with the boomerang so I wasn't putting my focus on catching it during battle. Once I had gotten the hang of it I slipped it into my pouch and continued on.

As I entered the boss room I felt a cold wind envelop me making me freeze. As I stumbled through the darkness I could hear a low growl all around me. When I came to a wall a felt above me and found a torch stand. I lit it with the candle and turned around to see a ten-foot dragon looking down at me.

It gave a mighty roar making me cover my face from the intensity. I couldn't move my body; the fear had caused my legs to go numb. It swung its claw hitting me and throwing me against the wall. I stood up feeling the pain rack through my body. Even though the dragon was only four feet taller than me it felt like I was fighting something ten times my size. But I couldn't give up, I had to do this. I quickly looked around hoping that something would help me beat this thing.

"Nothing, dammit!"

Then I remembered that this things weak point was the horn on its head, if I could hit that I might be able to win this. It shot fire at me forcing me to move to the right to avoid it. I rushed towards the beast hoping I could climb it. Before I could even touch it the creature swung its claws at me sending me back against the wall. Getting close to it wasn't a choice; I needed to hit it from far away. I remembered the boomerang I had and pulled it out. The only problem was that this thing only had a five-foot range. I looked around again for anything to give me extra footing. But even in searching I realized there was nothing in here except the dragon and me.

"Wait, that's it!"

I had a plan; it was a little risky but my only choice. I rushed at it again getting up to its body. It swung and I quickly hopped up landing on the dragon's hand. It raised its hand to look at me, after a moment of wobbling I regained my footing and took my chance. I threw the boomerang hitting the creature's horn breaking it and making the dragon reel in pain and fall. I fell off its hand and quickly recovered. It flung wildly thrashing the walls and stone floor around it in pain. I moved quickly sticking my sword in its hand. It flung its hand off the ground sending me air born. As I fell back to the ground I aimed for its head and grabbed its back spike. Quickly, while it was disoriented I scrambled up its back and reached the now open horn on its head I plunged my wooden blade into the soft spot that was previously protected by the horn. The beast gave a shrill cry of pain and, fell to the ground with a loud crash. Suddenly a bright white light flew off the creature's body. I collapsed to the ground breathing heavily from the intense fight. This was what I had to do as the new hero of this story. I had to take on impossible odds and fight unbelievable creatures to bring peace. After catching my breath I stood back up feeling the pain return to my body. If I was going to continue I had to endure the pain. I approached the light and it shot towards me disappearing inside my body giving me a white glow. The glow faded leaving nothing. I felt no different; it was strange though, in that moment I felt like I…absorbed something. I shook off the thought and headed into the next room.

"There it is."

In front of me was a piece of the Triforce of wisdom. One of the goals of this game, if I was going to finish the story I had to gather all eight pieces. I approached it with a sense of determination. The piece was small but I could feel the golden radiance of power it held. I touched it feeling a warmth go over my body and felt my wounds disappear, as though they were never there to begin with. This was a piece of the power that the Triforce of wisdom held and it was just what I needed to keep going. Suddenly a white light enveloped me making it impossible to see. Suddenly I heard a voice.

"I knew you could do it." This voice sounded exactly like the female voice I heard the first time I came here. But who was it?

When my vision returned I found myself outside the entrance to the dungeon. The piece of the Triforce was gone and the warmth I felt was replaced by the brittle wind blowing to the west. I looked behind me to see the opening closed off. I looked up and saw the tree was rotting before my eyes. It was as though I was watching a thousand years of decomposing happen in a matter of seconds. When it was over a pile of dirt and a small seed was all that was left. I replanted the seed knowing that it will regrow. The dungeon I had gone through had disappeared; its existence no longer needed. But the fact that I was still here meant that I was in this for the whole thing. There were seven more dungeons and I had to find them all, reclaim the Triforce of wisdom and stop Gannon. Weather or not I was ready wasn't my choice, I had to do this. But who sent me on this adventure, and who was the female voice I've heard twice now? It felt as though something bigger was happening. I pushed that aside and looked across the bridge to see the horde of moblins was gone which meant I could move on. As I moved across the bridge I felt a great weight on my shoulders. It was the responsibility I had to carry and I would carry it for a long time because this was only the start of my adventure.


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you kidding me?" I yelled annoyed at the prices that this cave shopkeeper was charging me. I decided that I should probably stock on arrows since I just got the bow from the first dungeon. But little did I know how much these cave dwellers charged for simple things.

"You heard me punk! 80 rupees buy it or get out!" The gruff salesman was not the most helpful person.

"Who would pay that much for arrows?!" I yelled back at him. In the game they were usually around 40 rupees but these were overpriced for arrows. I only had 75 rupees so I had to haggle him down if I were to get them.

"How about 50 rupees?" I said as calmly as I could.

"How about you piss off!" He retorted. Looks like I was going to get nowhere trying to haggle with these people. I noticed he was selling a wooden sword, which confused me. Usually the only swords you can get are from old men in caves.

"Hey, where did you get that sword?" I asked confused by its placement in this shop.

"I found it in a hollowed out tree yesterday, pretty cheap though." He replied. It looked just like mine. My thought brought me back to the first dungeon and the image of the previous hero of this tale. Thinking back on it he didn't have the wooden sword on him: I had assumed it was torn to shreds by the monsters but here it is in perfect condition.

"I'll give you 40 rupees for it." I said pulling out my satchel of gems and pouring out two red ones and ten green ones. The interesting thing about the currency was that they came in different sizes based on worth. Green ones were small and worth the least, blue ones were medium size and worth only a few more than the green ones while the red ones were the largest yet, taking up most of my hand to hold one and worth at least four times the blue ones.

"Deal." He said gruffly taking the money and handing me the wooden sword and its sheath. "Don't see why you would want it though." He said counting the amount I gave him.

"Personal reasons." I said turning around and walking away. I exited the cave after strapping the sword to my back and headed into the forest. I stopped realizing I just spent a lot of money on a piece of wood I could have gotten for half or even a quarter of the price form how he was acting. "I'm an idiot." No time to worry about it now though, I had to head to the second dungeon which was in this forest. As I entered I noticed the abundance of monsters that inhabited the forest. Good, more practice for me.

I gave a huff collecting the third horde of loot I had collected from these monsters. It was strange, just a few hours ago I was struggling with a few skeletons but now they were barely causing him to breath heavy. I climbed up the stairs on the hill seeing a large temple in front of me. Knowing what I would be facing I entered the temple throwing any tension and fear to the wind.

The inside was the same stone that had lined the previous dungeon giving it a familiar setting. But I had to be cautious because there were different enemies to fight. I entered the adjacent room and saw a group of snakes roaming the room. But these were much bigger than garden variety snakes and there fangs oozed a green liquid that I had to guess was poison. I skid to a stop and they turned their heads towards me. I quickly unsheathed my sword and when I looked up I saw one of them bearing down on me. It lunged down, fangs open, as I cut across its body getting rid of it. Too close. The other two rushed towards me at rapid pace. I got into a ready stance and noticed they were coming at me in a straight line. They were in biting distance as I plunged my sword forward stabbing both of them ending their existence. I gave a sigh, relieved that I was not poisoned by them.

"Still no challenge." I said trying to convince myself.

After a while I found the map and compass and headed for the boss room. As I entered the room before the boss room I saw a group of Goriya: giving an annoyed grunt I quickly dispatched of the enemies and noticed another boomerang in the center. I threw it noting the distance of this one being far better than the one I currently had. I put it away but held on to the old one knowing I could probably sell it for a few rupees. Hearing a mighty roar I crossed the threshold to the boss room.

As I entered the boss room I noticed the ground was much more rock than stone and I could here a large crunching sound coming from the other end of the room near a large boulder.

"Wait…there was no large boulder in the game." I picked up a rock and hocked it at the boulder causing it to turn around. That was no boulder. As it turned around I recognized it as a dodongo, a large fire-breathing lizard that ate rocks, and rock people. I noticed the excessive amount of blood around its mouth and looked behind it to see the huddled bodies of what I assumed to be the goron race, or…the last of the race. I felt fear and sadness from seeing the strong goron race be reduced to corpses. I charged forward with my sword and swung at the beast. I heard a loud crack and saw the blade of wood fly off my sword into tiny pieces leaving me defenseless. He swung his head forward knocking me down to the ground and lunged teeth open as I rolled to the right making it stick its jaws in the ground of rock immobilizing it for a moment. Think Soren, what did you use to beat this thing last time? It suddenly came to me and I reached into my pouch and pulled out the small bombs I had found from the forest monsters. Strange that they had bombs to begin with. I shook that thought aside and use my candle to light the bomb fuse. The dodongo shook free and faced me giving a mighty roar.

"Gotcha now!" I dashed forward and threw the lit bomb down the creature's throat. I heard a small explosion and saw the rock eating creature stumble around and give a raspy roar that sounded more like a dying bird. But it quickly came to its senses and suddenly formed into a ball. The next thing I felt was the force of a boulder being thrown on me as I fell backwards skidding against the rock-like ground skinning most of my exposed skin. I shakily stood up feeling my body cry out in pain. I staggered as my feet refused to move. All I could see was the dodongo assume its ball like form as I fell to my knees. Damn it, my body won't move. I held my exposed flesh feeling blood begin to pool around my hand and move down my arm. I had to do something or I was going to die; but it's too soon to die, I just started this adventure. I looked at the creature and saw a small hole of exposed softness around the dodongo's armored skin. If I could stab that hole I had a chance at this battle. But it was rolling at me making the chance very small, I also had no weapon to use. I quickly recalled the sword I bought from the shopkeeper and reached for my waist and felt the piece of wood strapped to my side. I can't believe I forgot about that. I drew the weapon and stood up; using what little strength I had and readied myself. I rushed at me, rolling around and around. I closed my eyes as I felt the ground shake beneath me, this was my last shot. I trusted my instinct and thrust forward.

My world grinded to a halt as I saw that I had stabbed at the one soft spot in the armor. The beast fell to the ground dead and unmoving; relief washed over me as I fell to the floor panting and clutching my body as the pain racked it, the moment of adrenalin gone. But I had to go on and collect the fragment. I felt the light glow surround me like last time doing nothing to relieve me of the pain I felt as I crawled forward determined to keep going. I was not going to give up, I took on this task and if I wanted to get home I couldn't die here, that was the one piece of responsibility I held onto as I crawled into the Triforce room. My vision became hazier as I kept moving; I looked behind me and saw that I was leaving a large trail of blood in my wake. There it was, the piece of the Triforce of wisdom, I outstretched my hand to touch it feeling my consciousness begin to fade. Suddenly when my hand touched the golden piece I felt my wounds vanish, my skin heal and my consciousness return slowly. I stood up shakily and breathed in thanking my lucky stars I was still alive. But that encounter came to close for me to just brush it off. I got lucky and that was it, I couldn't rely on that luck forever, I had to get better. I saw the piece give off a bright flash blinding my vision. The female voice once again spoke to me this time with a cheerier attitude.

"You're reckless, but sometimes that can be just what you need! Heehee!" Did the voice just giggle?

Just like last time I was standing outside the very dungeon I entered, feeling the sun wash over me, bathing me in warmth. I looked behind me to see the ruins I had entered crumble and fall blocking the entrance from further entry. I walked away slowly wanting to savor the safety I had as these moments were few and fleeting in this world and if I was to continue I had to dive into danger and not stop moving. But that female voice… she seemed to enjoy what I was doing which means she's watching my journey… but how? I looked at the sword I had now remembering its previous owner.

"…Thanks Link."

I sheathed the wooden blade and walked down the hill towards my next destination. With the thought of the female voice watching over me haunting the back of my mind.


	5. Chapter 5

"A swipe to the left, a swipe to the right and I'm done."

Giving a wide grin I collected the items that had dropped from the monsters and continued through the forest. I was headed south towards the next temple… I think. Honestly I had no resource for where I was going except the compass from the first dungeon and the veritable stretch of trees and clearings. Somewhere around here should be the third dungeon but I wasn't sure. The temple was supposed to be next to the lost woods but I hadn't gotten there yet. Suddenly the compass needle started moving around wildly. Did it break?

"Come on you stupid compass!"

I smacked it around unsure if I was doing anything. I shoved the compass back in my belt pouch and looked around to see an endless stretch of trees in every direction with no end. Was I in the lost woods? Suddenly an arrow whizzed by my head making me turn around to see a hoard of moblins in front of me. I quickly turned around and ran forward knowing the secret to this maze of trees. I pulled out the compass and saw the needle was still spinning. Useless compass. I would have to use my base knowledge to get out. Remembering the entrance was the east way I turned right and then left. The moblins were hot on my trail and catching up. Had to hurry, I turned right and then right again. North, West, South, West.

As I entered the graveyard I noticed an abundance of graves in front of me. But even worse were the pile of bones piled everywhere and decaying corpses still fresh from the slaughters. That was all I could take, I unleashed my recent meal of fruits and berries onto the dirt ground. I felt my vision haze and my eyes tighten, not wanting to see the gruesome scene in front of me anymore. So much death was left here and it hurt to look at. I rushed quickly out of the graveyard into the mountains. I Took a few deep breath making sure what was left of my meal stayed where it was. In front of me stood a variety of monsters that all eyed me with the intent to kill. I could feel the energy they exerted and I knew my sword couldn't handle that energy and neither could I. I had no choice but to return to the graveyard if I were to survive but I had to be quick and head back to the lost woods. I rushed back to the graveyard and turned into the lost woods rushing forward as fast as I could to escape the monsters and feeling of death. With a group of moblins in front of me I quickly unsheathed my sword and rushed through them cutting them all down. I dashed into the nearby cave and fell to my knees crying. This world was not the adventurous Hyrule I had experienced in game, this was the real Hyrule, filled with the death of millions and feeling of dread around every corner. No matter where you went you would see a creature of Ganon or the countless bodies of those who have opposed his rule. All that was left was the stragglers in caves. I stood up wiping the tears from my face to find myself in a stone like structure. I must have unknowingly entered the third temple. But could I continue? No matter what I say, think or say I'm just a kid from a world of safety, I didn't have the experience to challenge this world or its inhabitance. All I am is a weakling in hero clothing. I don't belong here.

Suddenly I heard a clash of metal and turned my head to the doorway to my left.

"KLANG"

There it was again. I unsheathed my sword and headed into the room. When I got in I saw a group of jelly blobs and a girl in the middle of them swinging. She had black hair tied into a long ponytail and she wore a white cotton shirt and a small dark green jacket, she wore a leather skirt and had knee high boots and wielded an actual steel sword. She swung at the blobs but they continued to bend and mold around the blade making them hard to hit.

"KLANG"

"Dammit hold still!" She shouted continuing to swing. They were like jelly so if I could heat them up they wouldn't be able to move so easily. I looked around and noticed many unlit torches lining the wall, perfect for lighting the room. I pulled out my candle and quickly lit each post feeling a significant change in the climate of the room. After I lit the last torch I look over to see the jelly's movement become slower.

"You're mine now!" She said as she spun around catching the jellies in her vicinity, slicing them to pieces. I sighed glad she was safe. She looked over and pointed her blade at me with a menacing stare, "Who are you?" She asked as she came closer to me, "You don't look like an NPC, and I don't remember any of them being in this dungeon." She spoke like I would, like an outsider of this world

"So you're not from this world either?" I asked glade that I had found another person to relate to. She touched the tip of the blade to my neck.

"I'm asking the questions here!" She said giving me a death stare, "But you are right about that which means you're from another place as well." She quickly sheathed the blade giving me a moment's relief. "Still, tell me who you are."

"I'm Soren." I said touching my neck to make sure she didn't cut me. "So you also entered this world from somewhere else?"

"Yeah, I was just playing my games when I suddenly got a weird screen glitch that asked me a question, do you want a new start." A new start? That's different from what I got, "I said yes and suddenly I wake up in this world with a new wardrobe and a sword on my back." So she's in the same situation I'm in, "What about you?"

"Oh, um… same thing, only mine asked, do you want things to be different." That wording seems significant. But I'll investigate that later.

"Well, whatever." She walked away heading deeper into the dungeon.

"Hold it! Where are you going?"

"Further in the dungeon of course, how else will I defeat Ganon unless I get the Triforce shard?"

"But can we really meddle in the affairs of this world? I mean… we don't belong here." She turned over to me.

"Weather or not we belong here doesn't change the fact that we're here now, and I don't know about you but I'm going to help this world."

"Why?"

"Because I'm the only one who will." She walked away leaving those words in my mind. This world was in shambles, and no one would stand up to the tyrant that ruled their land so they hid. But Link wanted to help this world; he wanted to risk his life for this world. Even though he was afraid he pressed on until he defeated the evil king. But this world was one that killed him before he could defeat the king and I entered that dungeon he died in to carry his dream. I wanted to run away so many times but I kept going, if I want to get home I have to continue. More than that this world is real, I've proved that to myself too many times to count. It didn't deserve this, no world did and if I can stop this chaos then why don't I at least try! That girl wasn't the only one who will help, so will I! I rushed after her deeper into the dungeon with a renewed sense of self and someone to fight by my side.


	6. Chapter 6

"So what is your name?" I asked hacking through kees. I quickly slid to the side impaling three of them watching them disappear.

"Just call me Asuna." She replied sheathing her blade. "On another note, why are you following me? Weren't you too scared to continue on?"

"But I have to continue." I replied picking up the leftover loot of the enemy.

"I think I have a better chance without you and your toy sword." She replied bluntly.

"Well you didn't seem to be doing so well with those jellies until I came along." I replied snidely.

"Shut up!" She replied in a harsh tone, "I would have figured it out." Yeah right. As we walked into the next room I could see a horde of 5 darknuts staring us down.

"Run?" I asked.

"Run!" We bolted in the opposite direction. With all those darknuts getting to the next room would be impossible. I looked behind to see the horde chasing us down. They had left the room to chase us down. I had an idea.

"Split up!" I yelled to Asuna and she headed through one door as I ran into another room. As anticipated they split up leaving me with two darknuts to fight. As they rushed at me I sped behind them and quickly struck both of them with one sweep. They stumbled and turned around and swung at me as I backed up to avoid their blades. A few more diversions and hits later I had felled the darknuts. I took a moment and took in a few deep breaths, that fight had worn me out leaving me breathless, "Maybe that girl was right about my wooden sword." I looked at the blade seeing that it was dinged up and splintering in areas, it couldn't take much more. I moved quickly to find Asuna and saw her in the room that had the darknuts and she signaled for me. When I got over she pointed to the next room and when I looked in I saw eight darknuts moving around the room.

"I don't think we can take that many." She stated leaning against the wall.

"Yeah but maybe we can sneak past them." I said contemplating my choices.

"Go ahead and try." She motioned to the door. I quickly and quietly moved around the edges of the room moving just out of their line of sight and diving down the stairs. I moved down the stairs and grabbed the lone raft stuffing it into my infinite storage and went back up the stairs. After moving past the darknuts I gave a heavy sigh and pulled out the raft feeling triumphant. I looked over and Asuna looked shocked and then turned her head to the side scoffing at me. "Whatever." We moved on and entered a sand filled room. We looked around and saw nothing but sand cover the floor of the room. As I stepped I felt something hard hit my foot, when I looked down I saw something buried in the sand. I dug it out and gave a scream at the skull I held in my hand. I threw it against the wall in terror catching Asuna's attention. "What is it?" she asked.

"Skeletons…a-are buried i-i-in the s-sand." I stuttered out feeling my mind curl in horror. She bent down and dug out another skull catching her by surprise. She quickly regained herself and stood back up.

"What is this world?!" She shouted stomping the ground and crushing the skull she dug up. Suddenly we could feel the sand shake and move beneath us as a creature rose up. What stood before us was a four headed creature that had a round base that seemed to roll and turn along the sand quickly. It came towards me, I quickly rolled to my right as it dialed backwards after Asuna. She moved out of the way but it continued to chase us. Nothing it hit stopped or stunned it at all making it hard to

catch off guard. If I remember correctly we had two choices. We could either try to slice all of the heads off of the body or use one bomb to destroy it all at once. But we have to get a perfect shot with that bomb. I pulled out one of my bombs and threw it at the creature. It exploded on impact and took out three of the four heads. That should at least give us an easier time with it. But suddenly it stopped moving and arched its neck to look at me and Asuna. It then started spitting fire at us as it turned. Wait, fire!? It never even shot fire in the game, what was this thing? My thoughts were interrupted as a flaming shot exploded at my feet knocking me back into the wall. I fell to the sand and quickly got back up to see Asuna rushing the creature as it focused on her, sending fireballs directly in her direction. She kept dodging them from left to right but tripped and was caught full body in a fireball. As it dissipated I saw a charred body standing there stationary. I could feel my stomach tighten as I watched her slightly twitch in pain. But the monster wasn't done, it reeled its head back for another attack. I sprinted at the creature and gripped my wooden blade tightly as I struck at its neck slicing through it and felling the creature.

I rushed over to Asuna to see she had been cooked. Her skin was burnt and her eyes looked to dry to even blink. I ignored the light that washed over my body as I grabbed her arm and wrapped it around my neck as I led both of us to the Triforce piece. I moved quickly to touch the glowing triangle and felt the familiar wash of relief overflow my body inside and out and looked over to see Asuna receive the same treatment. Her body heal and her clothes mended I gave a sigh of relief as we were both enveloped in the bright light. Like before I heard that female voice.

"It's better to work with a partner isn't it?" We were transported outside the dungeon; I stepped to the ground and saw Asuna do the same as she felt up and down herself. I looked behind me to see the dungeon crumble like the other two.

"That Triforce piece made me good as new." She said in relief as she took in a deep breath. I gave a chuckle and she looked over with a glare and then looked away, "Well, thank you...for helping me out." she looked back at me with an embarrassed blush on her face, "If you hadn't been there...I might have died."

"Happy to help." I said with a big grin, "After all, I couldn't let a friend die." She looked at me quizzically, as though I said something stupid.

"Friend? We just met."

"Yeah but would I have saved you if you weren't a friend?

"You would if I was a useful asset." She waved her sword around with a smirk.

"I'm not as shallow as to use someone!"

"Who are you calling shallow!"

We argued for a bit before we finally gave up.

"Hey. Did you hear that female voice when the light blinded us?"

"Yeah. That's the second time I've heard that voice." Second?

"Fourth for me."

"Fourth? How many dungeons have you been to?"

"Three."

"So you got to through the first two dungeons?"

"Yeah and each time I touched the Triforce piece I heard that voice. I think she's watching us."

"Believable." She paused for a moment to think, "At least I don't have to go to those two dungeons." She finished her thought and we stood there for a moment until I decided to speak.

"Anyway I think we should head for the next dungeon."

"Together?"

"Yeah. We can work better in a team than we can alone, and the creatures here can't be taken out alone, they work in groups to make sure they overwhelm their opponents."

"That's true, I've run into plenty of groups that I've had to run from or sneak by...alright, we'll work together and head to the next dungeon but first..." She pointed to my wooden sword. I pulled it out to see the middle had worn away to a thin piece of wood holding it together, it couldn't fight anymore, "We're going to need to find you a new sword."

"Alright then let's head to the mountains." If I remember correctly there's another sword up there I can get.

"I'll lead the way since I can fight." Asuna said smugly, walking as I followed behind muttering about her snide comment and we headed towards the mountains in search of my next blade.


	7. Chapter 7

I felt my body pull as I climbed up hoping not to fall or collapse from exhaustion.

"Hurry up!" Asuna yelled at me from atop the cliff. We had come to this rocky cliff because I remembered that there was an old man who gave an actual sword to you if you had enough hearts. Hopefully he will give it to us because we are adventurers as I have no clue how he will tell how many "hearts" we have. I climbed over the ledge and sat there panting, "Come on let's hurry."

"Can we hold on a minute to let me catch my breath?"

"Tch! Lightweight."

"Hey!" After a few minutes we continued moving till we came to a body of water that over turned into a waterfall. We were here. We entered the cave to see a man sitting there. He was ancient and looked like a stiff wind would knock him over. He looked at us and held up his hand when suddenly a beam of bright energy hit me. I didn't stumble back though, when I opened my eyes I saw my body was glowing with that bright light I had gathered from the bosses of the dungeons, but this light grew as bright as the three of those lights combined. The old man smiled.

"You have been through a lot." He said with a withered voice, "I feel confident in giving this to you." He handed me a sheathed blade and as it fell into my hands I felt the weight of the blade, a real blade. I un-sheathed it and swung it getting a feel for this new weight.

"Thank you." I said bowing my head. He stepped back sitting down with a smile.

"Save this world please." It was weird to hear someone ask that of me. I had always wanted to be a hero but this felt surreal and worse than I expected. With what I saw of this world it made it harder to continue fighting and to be asked to save this world felt like and impossible task.

"Hey, Soren." I turned to Asuna and she pointed outside to the now red sky. Sundown was upon us soon. Going out in the dark was a death sentence. If these monsters were aggressive during the day I could only imagine how bloodthirsty they are during the night.

"Hey old man can we stay he-!?" When I turned around the old man was gone, like he was never there to begin with, "Where did he go?"

"This world is magical, he might have transported away." Asuna was guessing. It wasn't crazy to think about but it was strange, "Well it looks like we're stuck in this cave until morning." I pulled out the candle and lit it to give us some light to sit by. I pulled out some of the nuts and berries I had collected and gave some to Asuna as we ate in silence.

"Hey, how did you end up here?" I asked trying to make small talk, she looked away and went silent for a bit.

"I don't want to talk about it." She looked at me with a straight face devoide of any emotion, "What about you?" she asked. I explained how it happened, from the point I got home to when I was transported to this world, "So you have an over demanding family and you were sent here? Seems tame." She made it sound like I was ungrateful and spoiled with how she summed it up.

"Well, that's not all." I said and she looked back at me, "My sister isn't exactly a good person, she's demanding, pushy, rude, selfish and always thinking about herself and my dad is no better, since he was bedridden with diabetes he doesn't even leave the house." I felt myself get angrier as I told her my story, "Because of my sister We have had drugs trafficked through our house and her friends have used her to attain their own goals leaving her with the consequences and police and yet she continues to treat me like trash, someone worse than she is and my dads medical bills have all but destroyed us financially leaving my mom to pick up two jobs just to get by and they still ask for more, like they deserve it… dammit!" I slammed my fist down on the cave floor feeling the tingle of pain, "Sometimes, I wish things were different." I looked at her and she had a look of concern on her face, "Sorry, I got a little emotional there."

"No, it's understandable. I-I'm sorry...for asking about it." She looked away avoiding eye-contact with me, "We should get some sleep for tomorrow." Asuna rolled over curling into a ball to keep warm. I took my trench cloak off and threw it coat her and laid down on the other side of the cave, "Thanks… about my story-"

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She went quiet after that as I fell asleep. Luckily I didn't dream that night if I had I would have had "that" dream again.

When I woke up sunlight was pouring into the cave blinding me as I stood up. When I looked around I saw that Asuna was leaning against the cave opening.

"Ready to go?" She tossed me my trench cloak and I quickly gathered my things and joined her as she left the cave. Our next destination was the fourth dungeon otherwise known as the snake dungeon.

We made our way around the waters edge to find the island the dungeon was on. After a few hours we saw an island sitting alone in the water. I pulled out the raft I had obtained from the last dungeon and we got on and rode across the water to the island.

"How do these things fit in your utility belt?" Asuna asked. It was a valid question, some of the things I had picked up seemed crazy to carry without it affecting me.

"I think it's an infinite utility belt."

"What does that mean?"

"It means it can hold an unlimited amount of things."

"But how is that possible."

"Maybe this world has different rules."

"Different rules?" this had been on my mind for a while, it seemed strange that the creatures were just vanishing while bodies of people were left. As we approached the island zoras began to surround our raft.

"Crap! We're surrounded!" Asuna yelled pulling out her sword. As she swung the zoras back away from her swing range and began to spit fireballs.

"Look out!" I grabbed Asuna's hand and pulled her down as they fired above us.

"What do we do? We can't keep moving if they keep shooting." Asuna pointed out.

"Let's try long range." I pulled out the bow I had acquired from the first dungeon.

"We don't have any arrows."

"If the rules for this world are different then maybe this will work." I took out a green rupee and touched it to the bow and it suddenly turned into a wooden arrow.

"How did you-"

"Whenever you shoot an arrow in the game it uses one rupee. So I thought-"

"Less explaining more shooting!" I stood up and pulled the arrow back on the bow string. When I let go the arrow flew at the zora and hit it square in the head and it disappeared, "Keep going!" I pulled back another arrow and shot at another zora but this one went over it. I looked down to see Asuna give me a dead stare.

"I'm not a master at this okay!?"

"Give me that!" Asuna wrestled the bow from me and loaded an arrow and shot hitting another zora, then another and another. Eventually she had taken out all of the zoras and sat down with a relieved sigh.

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?"

"Wii Archery, not much to do when you sit in bed all day." Wait, what did she say? I looked over and she looked down at the bow in her hands running her hands along the wood, "Well, let's keep moving." I dropped it for the moment and we continued toward the temple. When we got to land I placed the raft back in my belt and we looked at the large structure. I know I had seen this before but it felt different from the last three, maybe because I was with Asuna this time or maybe because after this I would have four of the eight pieces of the triforce of wisdom. This has been strange though, being stuck in this world seemed strange but I was moving through it so naturally. Hell, I had spent the first day traveling to three dungeons and meeting people. But I still don't know why I'm here. Who sent me here? Why? And why Asuna too? Someone was pulling the strings but I had no way of finding out who it was or where they were; all I can do is follow the story I knew. Hopefully everything will become clearer the more we advance, "Come on, let's head in." Asuna and I entered the dungeon to face whatever was waiting for us inside.


	8. Chapter 8

The tension in the dungeon seemed much heavier than previously felt. It seemed as though something is here that could be more dangerous than anticipated. I tossed that thought aside as we entered the first room. The run with the dungeons was getting pretty standard with how use to it I was. Beat some monsters, get a key, use key on door previously seen and continue. The only difference was the amount of confrontation we ran across. It seemed… lax, to say the least. It felt like we weren't the only ones here. Eventually we came to the basement level that held the step ladder.

"Huh?" I rushed up to see what was wrong and Asuna's huh was well used. The stepladder was gone.

"Where's the dungeon item? It should be here." I felt around panicking. My mind was racing, was I wrong, did I not do something right, was I-

"Get a grip!" Asuna snapped me out of my panic and I looked up at her, "It's not here. Let's keep moving. I mean, it was a stepladder, at worst all we have to do now is jump over small water paths." She grabbed my arm and hoisted me back on my feet. I took a deep breath and re-collected my thoughts, "Anyway, now there's a bigger problem. One of two things is possible, either Ganon has taken the dungeon items in the night we rested-"

"That can't be." Asuna stopped and listened to me, "Even if we had gone straight to this dungeon in the time it took to get here it would have been nightfall, Assuming he heard about us after that he would have only been able to get to one dungeon and I'm sure he would have hit one close to home rather than this one so he could make it back before dawn."

"There's also the fact that none of the monsters we've encountered have been intelligent and the fact that they haven't survived the encounter with us." Asuna was right the only monsters that would have reported to him would be dungeon monsters; any field monster has no reason to report two humans.

"Which means that one is out. What's the second possibility?"

"We're not the only one on this adventure." But who else in this world would put their life on the line. Literally everyone else is either a shopkeeper or an elder.

"Wait if that's the case then either the Triforce piece is already taken or they're literally on their way there now." We looked at each other for a moment and rushed out of the basement and made our way to the boss room without delay. We rushed through room after room. We ran through rooms that normally required a key but this person obviously made it through meaning they were unlocked. When we made it to the boss door we saw a tall figure standing there completely dressed in a full body robe. We stopped and they turned around and looked at us. The cloak kept their face dark enough for us to just make out a rough jawline, meaning it was a man.

"So you two were the ones sent here." His voice was deep and gave me a sense that he had been through a lot, "You think you can win?" We we're unsure who he was addressing. I stepped forward.

"We're not sure what you mean by win, but we'll stand up for this world and stop Ganon!"

"Really? Even when you can't stand up for yourself in front of your sister?" What!? How did he know that!? I stumbled back in shock.

"And you." He looked over at Asuna, "This fresh start won't stop what's happening in the real world. Your body won't hea-"

"SHUT UP!" Asuna was screaming, "THAT ME IS WEAK! HERE I CAN BE STRONG! SO THAT ME CAN DIE FOR ALL I CARE!" She suddenly crouched into her lap and stayed motionless.

"Pitiful, and here I thought I found fresh new recruits, but you both will die here." What was he talking about? How did he figure these things out about us? Who was he? I stood my ground, "Neither of you can become strong as long as that weakness holds you, you will become another corpse of this world's genocide." Suddenly he tossed the stepladder at my feet, "No amount of toys will change that fact. If you don't believe me, then try your luck." He moved to the side and beckoned to the door. I picked up the stepladder and placed in in my belt; suddenly Asuna rushed forward into the room sword in hand.

"Asuna, WAIT!" I rushed in after her hoping she wouldn't be reckless. As I rushed in she was already assaulting the gleeok. She was swing her sword wildly into its stomach when suddenly it reeled its neck back and shot at Asuna sending her flying backwards. I rushed towards her and grabbed her hand before she rushed back in, "Asuna stop! You're just going to get launched back again." She tried her best to shake me lose.

"LET ME GO! I'M STRONG! STRONGER THAN THE OLD ASUNA, STRONGER THAN THAT MAN!" Suddenly she reeled back her sword hilt, "AND STRONGER THAN THIS DRAGON!" Suddenly I felt her hilt hit my face forcing me to let go and knocking me to the floor. She was lost, trying to prove a point to herself. Is this what it's like when someone is trapped by their fear? If I'm not careful…could this be me? I stood back up, I had to stop her or else she could wind up dead. But how could I snap her out of it. Suddenly I saw her pushed back in to the wall and she stood there for a minute. I looked back at gleeok to see it charge up a fire breath. I quickly shuffled through my items and found an old wooden shield and grabbed it. As the fire breath was on its way to Asuna I saw her eyes shrink in fear, quickly I moved in front of her and held up the dingy piece of wood. The wood held for 3 second before it burnt up causing the flames to burn my hand singing the skin.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I bent down in pain. My exposed muscle was burning without that layer of skin over my hands. It hurt…it burns. It burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns it burns!

"Soren!" I looked over to see Asuna looking at me worriedly, "Are you crazy?!"

"Heh…ironic coming from you." I joked, I felt my head hurt and felt a liquid move down my head; must have a concussion from that hilt hit. I felt my vision blur in and out.

"Don't fall unconscious Soren! You might not wake up again!" She was right, I could die if I pass out from the pain, "Listen Asuna, don't let that fear control you! "I'm not sure what you fear but if you let it hold you it will end you, you can still fear it for now but don't let it control you, can you promise me that?" That's all I could muster before I passed out.

 **Asuna**

"I'm not sure what you fear but if you let it hold you it will end you, you can still fear it for now but don't let it control you, can you promise me that?" Soren was looking at me with such seriousness; he might as well have been looking into my soul. Suddenly I saw his eyes close and his body fall forward.

"Soren! Don't fall unconscious! Soren? Soren!" It was no use, he was unconscious. He tried to save me when I was ready to throw my life away to prove I was strong. But why?! Why would he throw his life on the line because of my selfish actions. How could I be so weak, I'm too weak to do this, I'm as bad as old Asuna. I… can't fight… not like this. (I'm not sure what you fear but if you let it hold you it will end you!) Those words resonated in my head. If it were just me that would be one thing but I was also responsible for Soren's life. If I don't succeed he will die. I can't be responsible for someone else's death. I had to fight! I pulled out the bow and started shooting arrows at their eyes. Every time I hit an eye it bounces off. The eyes were too well protected, the wooden, one rupee arrows weren't enough to penetrate the eye. These had to be good arrows if I wanted to blind both of them. I pulled out my secret stash of rupees and pulled out my nine silver rupees, each worth a hundred. "Let's see if you can handle silver arrows you son of a bitch!" I stretched a silver rupee back as it turned into a gleaming silver arrow and shot it into the left head's eye and another into the right head's eye causing their heads to flail. I quickly pulled out my blade and swung across both necks cutting them off and rushed at the body stabbing it directly in the heart. With a shudder the beast fell and disappeared leaving a bright light. I quickly grabbed Soren and ran towards the Triforce piece as I passed through the bright light I saw it cover Soren and me from head to toe. I moved forward and placed my hand on the Triforce piece and was blinded by a golden light. I heard that female voice again, it spoke in a deadly serious tone.

"Don't trust the robbed man."

When the light died I saw we were back at the entrance, my clothes were mended as well as Soren's clothes and both our wounds were gone. I moved to the docks and set Soren down examining his head. The concussion was gone and his hands were covered by his skin again. I heaved a sigh of relief and lied down next to him; I was mentally exhausted. I had time before he woke up so I lied down next to Soren and tried to fall asleep. Then a thought crossed my mind, what if Soren died before I could save him? What if it only fixed his outer wounds? I took one more look at Soren and saw his chest rise and fall. I heaved a sigh of relief and closed my eyes.

"You idiot, you're going to pay for making me worry about you so much when you wake up. So please wake up soon." And with that I fell asleep with a smile on my face.


	9. Chapter 9

I was standing in a pitch black room. On one side of me stood a door and on the other a chair. I had had this dream before, it was recurring. I could choose to sit down in the chair and wait out the dreams end; or I could enter the horrible nightmare that awaited me. I decided to try the door, when it opened I saw my sister standing on the other end. She spoke but I couldn't understand a word… and yet I felt myself boil with rage.

"SHUT UP! YOU SELFISH PERSON, YOU SPOILED BRAT JUST…SHUT UP!" I felt my lungs dry up as I screamed. When I looked back up I saw my sister…but she had a bullet hole through her head. I looked down at my hand to see a pistol clenched in my hand. I did it again… I killed my sister. I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her I killed her!

I woke up instantly; I could see the sky, clear and blue. When I sat up I saw Asuna lying next to me sound asleep. I took a few deep breaths to recollect my thoughts. My last memory was falling unconscious in the dungeon with a concussion and singed hands. My head didn't hurt and my hands were burn free which meant Asuna was able to win and get the Triforce piece. I brushed a piece of her hair away to see she was sleeping peacefully. I gave a small smile as she stirred from her sleep.

"Huh? What…where are we?" She gave a long yawn and looked over at me with wide eyes, "You're awake! Finally! I was starting to get worried!" After saying that she looked away embarrassed, I gave a small chuckle finding her outburst cute.

"So I see you didn't let fear consume you."

"Yeah…I got us out." She looked down at the ground almost ashamed, "Look, I want to tell you why I'm here…but I'm scared."

"Tell me when you're ready." I stood up and extended my hand to help her, "For now let's head to the next dungeon okay?"

She gave me a weak smile and took my outstretched hand and I pulled her up, "Okay."

We moved back across the ocean back to the mainland and headed for the mountains where our next goal was.

"Look, all I'm saying is if there are octorocks, why can't there be octowaterballons?"

"This conversation is too stupid to validate with a response." Asuna pulled out the map making sure we were in the right area, "This path will take too long. By the time we get there it will be night, let's try some secret pathways."

"How do we pull that off?" She shoved the map in my face pointing out the path to take.

"If memory serves right there should be a power bracelet here and then a secret path right here." She wasn't wrong; there was definitely a bracelet in that area which we could then use to move the rock to enter the catacombs making us move quicker… but to do that we had to pass through the graveyard. It still made me shudder to think about what I saw there. The piles of dead bodies and rotting smell made me never want to return there. But this wasn't a leisurely pace we could keep anymore; with that large cloaked man here we had to stay ahead of him. I didn't know what he was capable of and I didn't want to find out. I swallowed my anxiety and sighed.

"O..Okay… let's..go!" With that Asuna smiled and took lead as we headed to the graveyard. Okay, just take deep breaths. In…out…in…out. I continued this exercise for an hour and Asuna began to notice as she slowed her pace.

"Are you okay?" I stopped in shock.

"N..no I just have a stomach flu." She unsheathed her sword and pointed it at my neck.

"You're a terrible liar Soren." I gulped, "Tell the truth."

"Fine… the truth is I have been at the graveyard before and it was…horrible." Those images flashed in my head, "The bodies they couldn't bury were left in piles until they became a mountain of undistinguished human flesh." Another image, "The smells made me vomit and run back the way I came. It helped me get to the third dungeon but it scared my mind, it showed what happened to humans in this world."

"Is that why you were so despairing when I first met you?" I nodded, "Well, don't worry, I'll help you. Just wait until we get there okay?" I decided to trust her.

"O…okay." We made it to the cliff that had stairs to the graveyard and after dispatching the enemies Asuna handed me a white cloth.

"Put this on." I did as instructed and was confused of her methods. Blinded, I decided to stay still so I wouldn't stumble around when Asuna grabbed my hand, "Just hold on to my hand and we'll walk through the graveyard with me leading."

"Asuna I don't think you know how horrifying it really is."

"Well I won't know until I try." She sounded confident, but that just made me more worried. I followed as she pulled my hand. We went up the stairs slowly so I wouldn't trip and when we made it to the top I heard the dirt beneath my feet shift under my boot and heard small crunches of what I hoped were leaves as we walked, "I see what you meant, this… is gruesome. This isn't a graveyard; this is a morgue; where bodies just rot in the open until they become nothing." She talked like she knew more than she appeared to about this. Every time I heard her talk deeply she became more interesting, she had a story that was more than meets the eye. I bumped into something absent mindedly, "Hey! Watch it jeez." I felt her let go of my hand and her hands moved to the back of my head as they undid the blindfold knot. When I opened my eyes I saw the mountain range behind Asuna. She gave me a smirk as I looked behind her, "Your welcome." I pushed her in the shoulder playfully and we walked toward the location on the map.

"So where did you get that map?"

"When I first got here I explored for a bit getting a feel for where I was and found it stuffed in an oak tree, something you wouldn't find in the game.

"So you're a gamer?"

"Cradle to grave and beyond, I enjoyed the idea of another world to live in and experience. It also beats the soul crushing boredom of the day."

"Been there, so I noticed you know this game very well."

"It's one of my favorites, I never played the original game but I was able to play the 3ds download version."

"Yeah, it's kind of hard to get your hands on a working NES."

"More like impossible."

"Ever tried Ebay?"

"Even IF I trusted that identity stealing website they could never get to my address."

"Why is that?"

"It's… complicated. Look over there." Asuna pointed to the long row of stone soldiers and ran towards them effectively stopping our conversation. When she approached one she kicked it causing it to move.

"Careful!" I rushed at her and threw a bomb at the moving stone soldier blowing it to bits, "Have you lost your mind!?" I screamed at her surprised that SHE was the one to do something stupid. She pointed behind me and I saw a bracelet where the soldier had previously stood. She wlked past me and picked it up, with a click it wrapped around her wrist.

"Remember, YOU'RE the stupid one, not me." She smiled widely as she walked by me.

"Yeah yeah very funny. We should probably make one stop before we head to the dungeon." I pointed to the far area.

"Do we need potions?"

"We've had too many close calls and what if were both wrecked before we can touch the Triforce piece?" She thought for a moment and followed me. I placed a bomb at the wall and when it exploded pieces of the mountain fell to reveal a wide opening. We entered the cave and when we made it to the end we saw a scared young woman sitting there. She had short choppy brown hair and wore basic leather clothing that was worn to the point where it was tearing in places exposing her legs, arms and midriff. Her skin was slightly browned and she didn't wear any foot wear, her feet were blistered and bruised from the lack of protection.

"Who are you?" She asked cringing. This was the first young girl I've seen beside Asuna. This was the only person of normal age I've seen in this world who belonged here. She did… right?

"You're from here right?"

"What do you mean, I'm from kakariko village… at least I was before it was destroyed." Yup, she was definitely a resident of this world, "What's going on? Are all the monsters gone? I don't want to die." She was terrified and this obviously wasn't a hidden potion shop, "Wait… are you Link? The hero who's been saving people and taking them to a secret refuge!" What!? But… he died a while ago. People should have heard about this… or maybe not, this world doesn't exactly have any way of getting news. I better keep this quiet for now.

"Sorry no, I'm Soren and this is Asuna." I motioned to Asuna who nodded her head, "We're adventurers who were looking for something else, but we found you instead." She sulked at what I told her.

"So you're not here to save me." She started to sniffle and tear up and I felt myself panic.

"Don't cry. W…we'll help you!" I looked over and Asuna shot me a glare. The girl perked up and smiled widely.

"Really? Yay!"

"So where is this refuge?" I had no knowledge of this, it was the underside of this world that no one knew… or maybe it was specific to this world.

"I've heard rumors that there were channels underground that lead to it but finding any channels underground is the hard part." Asuna tapped my shoulder and whispered into my ear.

"The secret shortcut leads underground; she might be talking about that." I nodded and looked back at the girl who was looking at me with hopeful eyes making me blush.

"W…we might know a way underground." She smiled widely and lunged at me grabbing me into a hug.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" I felt my face heat to near cold temperature levels. I looked over to see Asuna roll her eyes and look away, "By the way my name is Lissa." After a few minutes we left the cave. I had to carry Lissa as her feet were too blistered for her to move. We made it to the rock structure and saw a group of Lynels surrounding a man in a brown hooded cloak. I set Lissa down and Asuna and I moved to help him. Before we even approached them they disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving the man standing with a strange sword in his hand. He turned to us and pointed his sword.

"Who are you three?" Asuna was about to draw her sword before he swiftly moved up to her and held the sword at her throat, "It's rude to draw your weapon on people you just met."

"And yet you did just that." Asuna said slightly tense from the sword at her sword.

"Well this happens when the world goes to hell." He pushed the flat of the blade against her throat, "Now tell me who you are."

"Stop!" I yelled, he looked over at me, "Put your weapon down and we can talk. Like this no one is going to trust anybody else." He paused for a moment and re-sheathed his sword.

"You're right about that. We mistrust so easily these days, even against each other. You know, sometimes I look at myself and wonder who I am." He was talking like he was a million miles away, "Sorry I get carried away easily. But if we are going to talk openly we should head somewhere secure, Ganon's spies are everywhere." He looked around and motioned to the rock formation. I grabbed Lissa bridal style and me and Asuna followed him. He pushed one of the rocks opening up a set of stairs, "This way."

When we entered the underground I saw a set of tunnels. The man put his hand to a bare wall and a rune started to glow in that instant I saw the wall disappear and an opening appear making us gasp. He walked through and beckoned us over. We walked through the threshold and I felt Lissa quiver for a moment in my hands.

"Well you're human, that's good to know." He commented.

"How are you so sure?" Asuna asked confused by his statement. I thought for a moment and it came to me.

"Is there a barrier at the threshold that repels monsters?" I asked hoping that I was right about this.

"Quick thinking there, I like it. Yes, there is a rune to keep the place hidden and even if they get past that the barrier repels any of Ganon's minions. It keeps the place well protected." He couldn't have set this up on his own. Unless he was a powerful magician but his skill with a blade was well above normal, "Come on we have to keep moving." We followed him down a long hallway for a while until we saw a bright light at the end. When we crossed that threshold of light what we saw inside was amazing.

"It can't be." Asuna said surprised.

"Welcome to the human shelter." The man announced. This place was amazing! There were all types of people here; there were men and women as well as children and old people. It was so well orgonized; from the open sunlight that played host to a vegetable field to the medical tent that was set up it was well maintained and filled with happiness, from the children playing to the grownups talking and laughing.

"This place is filled with happiness it's well and orderly." I praised amazed at how great this place was.

"Thanks, we tried to make a new start here and it seems to be working very well. We're able to get the sunlight in because this opening is surrounded by terrain that no one can cross without significant trouble and we have top notch magicians working in the medical tent making potions and keeping people healthy and disease free. I heard Asuna scoff in disgust behind me, "Is there something wrong young lady?"

"This is sad." Why would she say that? This place seemed like a happy family, "Everyone here is just oblivious to the fact that any moment they could be attacked and if you were attacked what would you do?"

"I can handle any monster that would dare attack the shelter." He replied, "And besides this is home to a lot of people."

"No, it's not." I saw her eyes narrow and her voice tone darken, "I've seen those smiles before enough times to know that they are just faking it." She spoke in a way that made me afraid to disagree, "These people are terrified and those who aren't afraid are oblivious to what's happening, I'm guessing that the only place they consider home is the one being overrun by monsters that would rip them apart." I was shocked to say the least, she spoke so passionately and seriously; I could feel her menacing aura. I put my hand on her shoulder and she looked at me with a softer but still stern expression.

"Asuna calm down; here, take Lissa to the medical tent and then look around for a bit, I'll meet up with you later ok?" She gave an exasperated sigh and Lissa stood up and put her arm around Asuna.

"Fine, but I have a bad feeling about this place." With that Asuna walked away with Lissa towards the medical tent. I turned to the man and he gave me a shaky smile.

"Sorry about her, she's a bit… strong willed." I said scratching the back of my head embarrassed.

"It's okay, honestly that's not the first time I've heard that." He started to walk towards a large tent and I followed.

"So if this place is a safe haven why were you out there?" I asked a little quizzical at the logic. We walked into the tent and he zipped up the front. From outside the tent I saw two shadows position themselves outside the tent door.

"We're safe to talk openly here. You seem like the leader of your little group."

"Oh no it's just me and Asuna, we found Lissa in an abandoned cave so we decided to try to get her to safety." He looked at me as though those names were a foreign language. Oh right! I never told him our names, "Sorry I forgot to introduce us; my name is Soren, the girl I was carrying was Lissa and the hot blooded one was Asuna."

"Well it's nice to meet you Soren." He said shaking my hand, "I guess I should introduce myself." He took of his hood to reveal medium length brown hair with pointed ears. Wait this couldn't be, "My name is Link, it's a pleasure to meet you."


	10. Chapter 10

I couldn't believe that Link stood before me. I thought he was dead! At least that's what was proven to me when I first got here.

"Wait, this is impossible, I heard Link was dead!" He looked at me and chuckled.

"Well I assumed that would be what you would hear, but in this world someone could do a lot more good dead than alive; that's why I left my equipment and clothing on a dead body in a dungeon." So that's how he faked his death… but why!?

"If you were in the dungeon why did you want to fake your death?" He gave me a sad look.

"The Triforce is a legend, there's no way anything exist that could restore our world; this land is lost and there is no way to save it." He spoke cynically about his land.

"But you must have believed in this land at some point, what made you stop?" I asked this because it didn't make sense for him to give up, not if he's the hero.

"I saw…the graveyard." I watched his hand clench in anger, "All those dead people, the countless bodies… it was horrifying… this land is dead and the rest of the world will fall as well and there is no way to stop it, that's why I gave us a new start here." He gave me such a serious look that I almost believed him. But I recognized his tone of voice. He wasn't speaking of a new start. He was talking of hiding, escaping; he spoke… of fear. It made me shiver to think of what would happen if his influence affected every human; there would be no courage left to stand up. The world would be destroyed. I shook that thought from my head.

"But the Triforce is real! I've been to four dungeons already and seen the pieces for myself; I've felt the golden glow and the power it holds. The only reason me and Asuna are alive is because of those pieces of the Triforce." He looked at me and laughed.

"Sorry son but that won't help. Lies do not become us." He didn't believe me! How could he give up so easily? It was unbelievable. Maybe that's why Asuna and I took over, "Besides look at this place, three years and it is thriving!" Three years? So it's been three years since the original story. That might explain the rotting carcasses in the graveyard becoming flesh piles and the many dead bodies and remains in the boss chambers. This world is horrible when the hero gives up.

"Listen, you three are welcome to stay but I must first request you hand over all dangerous equipment." I couldn't stay; I had to finish what I started. But it wouldn't hurt to stay the night. I handed over my sword and utility belt as he examined the content, "I will get the sword from your friend, why don't you explore the area; I will get a tent set up for you three also I would prefer if the secret behind my identity remained secret." I left the tent and decided to explore the shelter trying to get a better idea of what this place was. As I walked around I saw many people sitting outside their tent either enjoying the chatter around them or chatting themselves. I saw many different races intermingling; there were gorons, kokiri wood imps and even a few zoras. The only group of people who weren't interacting with people was the women who were scantily clad in thin purple clothing and veils. They must have been the gerudos; as I approached them I felt hands wrap around my neck binding me and looked behind me to see one of the women holding me.

"What do you want male?" I felt her grip tighten as she gave me a menacing glare.

"I just want to ask about Ganon." She released me and I fell to the ground coughing. I had forgotten for a moment that the gerudo was an all-female tribe that despised men.

"We know nothing about the pig man you speak of, all we know is he rules our land and we despise him for throwing us into this situation, now leave!" As she walked away I thought of how I could get her to talk.

"What about Ganondorf?" She turned around to look at me for a moment and then approached grabbing me by my shirt.

"We will not speak with men about that person. Now LEAVE!" She threw me to the floor and went back to the gerudo tent. I wasn't going to get any info from talking to them… or at least I couldn't talk to them. I walked toward the medical tent and entered to find Asuna sitting in the waiting area which was just a set of three stools and saw Lissa sitting on a wooden table kicking her feet. I looked down at her feet to see the blisters and bruises completely gone.

"There you are." Asuna looked at me with an impatient and angry look, "That guy came in and confinscted my sword and when I asked him why he said you agreed to stay here! Are you insane?" She yelled at me angrily.

"Don't worry, I haven't decided to stay or not."

"Haven't decided!? You can't honestly want to stay here. We have to get back to the adventure! This place isn't good!"

"Easy Asuna, even if we don't want to stay we can still spend the night and hopefully get some potions from this place to help us." She gave a huff and stormed out of the tent angrily.

"I thought we could trust each other, guess I was wrong." I think I pissed her off. I sighed and looked over at Lissa who gave me a bright smile. I would have to find her later and have a talk.

"So do you have any family Lissa, maybe we can look for them."

"Sorry but all my family is back in the village that was destroyed." She gave me a sad smile and jumped off of the table, "Hey can we look around for a bit?" I had taken a look but I wouldn't mind getting a second look.

"Sure, why not." We walked around the area for a bit and I was able to get a layout of the land.

The shelter was broken down into for areas. The medical area which had two tents that held both the medical magician and the apothecary, the agricultural area that had direct sunlight held the crops that were grown and harvested to keep people fed. I learned that food was rationed here in order to keep everyone alive. It didn't seem very good but that's what happens in a crisis. I've watched enough shows about apocalypses to know that was true. The third area was a recreational area that had had different people mingling and interacting and the last area was the sleeping area that had all the tents and places that people would go to rest. As we took a look around I wasn't able to see Asuna anywhere. It was like she wasn't even here. When I looked over at the agricultural area I saw the light begin to fade and realized that it was becoming sundown. I looked over to see Link approach the group of people.

"Everyone, it is becoming sundown which means we will have dinner and then everyone turns in for the night." He and a few others handed out some broth with potatoes and I and Lissa sat down on the floor to eat. I looked over at Link and saw him approach us, "So how do you like our community Soren?"

"It's truly peaceful, everyone seems so happy."

"Yeah… I like to think of it as a little slice of heaven myself." I looked around to see that Asuna was nowhere to be found.

"Hey, where did Asuna go?"

"She left a few hours ago."

"What!?" She left? But I thought… what made her leave? (These people are terrified and those who aren't afraid are oblivious to what's happening, I'm guessing that the only place they consider home is the one being overrun by monsters that would rip them apart.) She never saw this as a good place, she didn't want to stay here. How could I not notice, I'm such an idiot, "I've got to go."

"Not this late at night, those monsters prowl the surface in a bloodthirsty manner, you'll die."

"So will Asuna! I have to find her!" I felt someone tug at my hand as I got up. It was Link

"You can look for her in the morning for now you should sleep, I'll give you a few potions before you go okay?" I thought for a moment; Asuna's strong if she left a few hours ago she should at least be ina cave by now… hopefully.

"O…okay."

I plopped down on the sleeping bag in my tent and gave a loud sigh.

"You're really worried about her aren't you?" I looked over to see Lissa staring at me.

"Yeah, knowing her she headed to the next dungeon but going through it is dangerous alone."

"So you two were going to the dungeons? Why?"

"We were collecting the Triforce of Wisdom piece by piece. We have four of them now and the third and fourth one were not easy, we almost ended up dead. But we got through it… together." Aw man, I was the biggest jerk in the universe right now. I didn't trust her judgment even with all we've been through. She trusted me and I couldn't trust her judgment; I'm a terrible partner. I have to apologize when I find her. Suddenly I heard Lissa shift and stand up.

"So if you two have been collecting the pieces you must have quite a few of them." She sat down on me straddling my waist, "Do you think you could show me?" This was weird… what was she doing? Why was she being so forward yet… authoritative, "If you do I might be prone to… show you some gratification." She was acting strange and couldn't figure out why. I couldn't think straight with the blood rushing to my little head. Damn you male libido! I felt her run her hands along my shirt.

"I don't know where they go when I touch them, a golden light flashes and then I'm back at the dungeon entrance."

"I'm sure you know why, so let's see if I can get it out of you." I watched as her eyes turned a deep amber and flash. In that moment I felt my consciousness begin to fade and saw giant bat wings form behind her. One word flashed through my mind as I tried to stay awake.

"Su…ccubuss." I saw her giggle a little as her eyes turned sharper.

"Clever boy. But a little late on catching it aren't you?" She gave a sly smile of triumph.

"How… did you pass… the barrier?"

That weak field detects Ganon's creations but not his hired help, it was too easy to get pass; although it did make me shiver." That's why she was shaking in my hands, "Now tell me who that man is that runs this place, I'm sure he told you."

"It was…" NO! Don't tell her! Stay strong! Don't fall for her spell!

"Still resilient, fine I was hoping I wouldn't have to make you my slave but looks like if I'm to get the info I want you're going to need a little…persuasion." I saw her give a wicked grin as she grabbed my cheeks and slowly brought my face closer to hers. She was going to use a love charm! I tried to move my body but it was stiff and wouldn't listen to me. Dammit move! It's all over if she kisses me, "Sorry boy toy but you're mine. There's no escape." No! I can't lose here. But I can't move. I saw her lips come inches apart from mine. I squeezed my eyes shut in fear. This was it. I'm sorry Asuna.


	11. Chapter 11

….?

The moment I dreaded seemed to take forever as I squeezed my eyes shut. When I opened them I saw Lissa sitting up with an arm wrapped around her neck pulling her backwards. I felt her grip loosen and quickly scrambled backwards out of her clutches. As I stood up I saw her stand and throw the arm forward sending the person flying at me. As I was hit I saw a lock of black hair fly into my face as we tumbled backwards on the tent. I stood up quickly and looked at who was thrown at me. Before I could get a good look I felt a something smooth coil around my neck.

"Oh my pet we are far from done here." I was lifted into the air and turned around to see Lissa standing there… but this looked nothing like the Lissa I had met. She had dark purple hair that flowed down her back and sharp eyes that matched. She sported a skimpy reveling outfit that showed her curves and figure. But what caught my eyes were the sleek bat wings across her back and the tail that was currently wrapped around my neck. I felt my body tense as she tightened her grip around my neck.

"It's much easier if you're passed out to brainwash you. That way you can't run or fight back." She gave a giggle that sent chills up my spine. I struggled to pull her tail off my neck but it continued to squeeze at my throat making my breath slow. My… mind was fading… I… couldn't breathe…! The person from before rushed past me striking Lissa in the face with the hilt of a sword and caused her to stagger making the tail loosen and drop me. I stood up and reached for my sword to find nothing there. Crap, that's right; I left my equipment with Link. Suddenly I saw a utility belt and sword fly towards me. It was my stuff, but how? I looked over to see the parson pull there hood back. It was Asuna.

"Asuna!? You came ba-"

"Less catching up, more fighting!" I quickly equipped the belt and drew my sword as Lissa recovered. She gave Asuna a disturbing scowl.

"You again!? I thought I was free of your meddling!" Meddling?

"She's been trying to get you alone so she could seduce you into reveling where the Triforce pieces are. She played the role of the refugee in order to gain our trust." She had!?

"But how did you figure it out I wonder."

"When I left I was about to enter the dungeon when I remembered that I saw a grave at the graveyard when we passed through there. Do you know what it said?" I was blindfolded.

"How is this relevant!? Just tell me!"

"Here lie the residents of Kakariko Village. No one could escape the fire that was lit. May they make a new village in the world beyond." No one could escape. That means-, "There is no possible way anyone could have been saved from that fire without someone knowing!"

"You did you research. That's right; I'm not an actual survivor. Hell, I'm not even human; but you know that already sweet Soren. I was hired by Ganon to hunt down whoever was defeating his monsters and stealing his Triforce of Wisdom. I would have just killed you but I had to find out where you hid them first." She really doesn't listen well.

"Look!" I shouted catching her attention, "I have no idea where they are! They aren't even with us. They would be too big to fit any-" I stopped and looked at my left hand. Could it be? I sheathed my sword and pulled the fingerless glove off to reveal a large Triforce piece on the back of my hand. Half of it was a shining golden color while the other half was a pale yellow. Of course! Every time I grabbed a piece it absorbed into my body and hid in the only article of clothing I had yet to take off in this world; my sword hand glove. I looked over to see Lissa laughing.

"Finally, I found it! Now I don't need to waste my time trying to capture you, I can just kill you know!" Her fingernails extended as she dashed at us with a killing intent in her eyes. I quickly put my glove back on and drew my sword. Asuna and I dived out of the way as she tore through the air into the extra tent storage making a loud crash. I watched as everyone exited their tents to see what had made the noise.

"You can dodge all you want but I can still move much faster than you." We looked behind us to see her standing there, dusting herself off. I heard as people murmured and shrieked at the sight of the succubus. She gave a wide grin and extended her wings causing energy to pulsate from them. Suddenly I watched as everyone around us stopped talking. When I looked into their eyes they looked grayed over and dull.

"What did you do?" Asuna asked staying on guard.

"A much simpler version of my charm spell, it only works for a short period of time but I think that's all I'll need. You wouldn't hurt innocent people would you?" Everyone began to swing at us as we dodged and maneuvered around them. Dammit! We couldn't fight Lissa with her controlling the refugees.

"Asuna we have to run!" I grabbed her hand as we raced away from the tent area ending up in the recreational area. As we stopped I looked behind us to see the mob had stopped chasing us. What could we do? We had no way of reaching her without injuring the people.

"I know what you're thinking right now." I was startled a little from her sudden outburst, "We can't both attack her but if one of us distracts the mob of people the other one can attack." But that would put the other person in extreme danger. It would be one against dozens of people with no way of attacking, "I'll take the mob while you go after Lissa directly." That was crazy! If I agreed to her plan she could die; even if their just normal people there are still enough to kick, punch, claw and god knows what her to death. I couldn't trust her to take them all… wait… trust. It's because I didn't trust Asuna that she left, that Lissa almost got me. I was lucky she came back at all. If I was going to continue to partner up with her I had to trust her. We may clash again but when it all boils down to it we need to be able to trust each other on important matters. She strongly felt bad about this place and I still agreed to stay without taking her feelings into consideration. This time though, it's different. I will trust her on this.

"Okay, I trust you Asuna." She looked surprised at me.

"A…are you sure? You're not just saying that so you can betray my trust later?"

"Asuna I'm sorry I didn't trust you before, I didn't take your thoughts into consideration; but not anymore. As long as we are partners I will trust you. If you feel uneasy about a situation I'll take your feelings into consideration and we'll decide it together. That's what being a partner is all about right? So I'll give you my trust." I extended my hand out to her. She gave me a small smile and grabbed my hand squeezing it.

"And I'll give you mine." We stood there as we absorbed the meaning of this bond. We would go through thick and thin together until it was over. No matter what the odds we would stand by and never doubt each other. I looked into her eyes and saw them soften as she starred back; No longer a glare or sharp look of indifference but a genuine look of trust, "Come on let's go!" We quickly maneuvered and I hid as Asuna charged at the controlled humans. I heard Lissa give an amused giggle and watched as the hoard ran after Asuna. When they were out of sight I jumped out and struck at Lissa taking her by surprise as she swung hitting me and sending me flying backwards.

"You really are stupid aren't you? Even if I'm on my own I still have more strength than you." I watched as she approached me. As she did I watched as she struck at nearby barrels and sacks shredding them with her claws. I quickly scrambled and swung at her making her block with her claws. She threw me back again causing my legs to buckle and fall leaving me immobile. I couldn't stand; my legs wouldn't move under the weight of this pain, "Soooo boring, you really are just a weak human fom a simple world aren't you?" What!? How does she know that, "Well, time to die." I watched as she brought her claws down and suddenly I saw Link jump in front of me blocking with his sword. He pushed her off and, while she was in mid-air, shot a magical beam at her causing her to fall to the ground in pain.

"No one is dying in my shelter demon!" He spoke with authority and strength. Much different from how I heard him before.

"Dammit, wasn't expecting you." She stood up and raised her wings, "I'll see you again Soren." She took off like a bolt of lightning down the hallway and then we heard nothing. Link grabbed my arm and carried me to the medical tent putting me down on the medical table. He left quietly and came back with Asuna two hours later. She sat down next to me and link gave a heavy sigh.

"So, explain what happened?" I and Asuna explained the events that occurred this night. He stood there taking everything in and finally talked after we finished, "So she was looking for the Triforce and you have half of it now." He turned around and then turned back, "I will have my doctor fix you up and then give you a few medical supplies. Then I must ask that you two leave and never come back." I was stunned at what he said.

"Wait, why?" Asuna asked unclear about his motives.

"You two have almost destroyed the shelter I spent the last three years building. You hold half of the Triforce of Wisdom meaning she could come back; you are a danger to this place and can no longer come back." He spoke like a machine. He meant every word he was speaking.

"Fine! This place is a coward's hideout anyway! If you keep hidings then you're not worth saving!" she spoke so angrily. But why? She hated this place anyway. It seemed like she was angrier for being accused of the damage.

"Also." We perked our heads up to listen, "You hold half of the Triforce of Wisdom, you hold the key to peace. If you come back to this, "coward's hideout" you would be prolonging the suffering of these good people. Everyone wants to go back home. How about giving them that wish?" He gave us a smile that spoke of something different than the last time; this was a smile that meant he had hope. I looked over at Asuna who gave me a nod. She agreed.

"Of course. You can count on us!"

The next day we stood outside the lizard dungeon with all our supplies in my belt. I gave a sigh looking at the next step in our adventure. I looked over at Asuna who was fiddling with her fingers.

"Are you okay?" She was startled and then looked away.

"I…wanted to apologize; when we separated I might have been a little…rash in distrusting you. It seemed a little harsh." I gave a chuckle and she looked at me with an embarrassed blush on her face, "What's so funny?"

"There's no need to apologize, if you didn't I wouldn't have learned to trust you as a partner, so thanks for that." She gave a small giggle and continued to blush.

"That's a little strange, thanking me for overreacting and abandoning you. You're strange you know that?"

"I'm not the one that overreacted like a crazy person." We gave a shared laugh enjoying the atmosphere we had made. When we stopped we looked at each other and I saw it again; the soft eyes she looked at me with. There was still the hint of secrecy behind them but they looked much kinder at me than before and that made me happy. I saw a side of Asuna I had never seen before. It was nice.

"Come on, let's keep going." We looked back at the dungeon entrance and entered ready for whatever was going to test our mettle, together as partners.


	12. Chapter 12

We entered the dungeon feeling the familiar hostile atmosphere cover us. We shrugged it off as we explored and our first room offered something different from what we were used to. When we entered the right room we found ourselves faced with Pol Voices.

"These guys? So should we use bombs?" I asked pulling out a few bombs.

"That's amateur ideas; any true expert knows you can kill these things with a bow." Asuna said cockily as she pulled out the bow, "Now watch this." She made short work of them as she hit all five of them in rapid succession. It was a sight to see her shoot and immediately reload and reshoot; like watching Legolas in lord of the rings, "Impressed? You should be."

"Yeah I'll give you the highest praise _oh champion of Wii Archery._ "

"Shut up." We moved on to the next room above the starting room and moved quickly to dispatch the gibdos. We moved in a much more unified manner that kept our enemies from hitting us and protected each other from harm. Every time a gibdo would attack Asuna I moved my blade to block the hit most of the time hurting our enemy while Asuna kept us constantly shuffling around to avoid getting hit. It was rough movements when we began but we were able to get a handle on it making our movements smoother and leave us less vulnerable to getting hit, "Nice job, let's keep it up!" Asuna said excited.

"Maybe we should try combo moves!"

"We're not game characters, I doubt we could pull that off without major damage to both of us."

"Still, wouldn't it be cool?"

"mmm…kinda." We moved on through the dungeon enjoying the friendly atmosphere we had created and the dungeon seemed to get easier the more in tandem we worked. It made this world seem less terrifying then I first imagined when I entered this world. It was nice to know someone had my back. Eventually we made it to the basement and found the flute…crap.

"Look I know we need this to beat the boss but…do you know how to play the flute?"

"What, you think I can't play it!?" She gave me an offended glare and then immediately shifted to a defeated slump, "Because I can't." I knew it. I picked up the flute and fiddled with it trying to play some semblance of a melody…but it just came out as random notes, "I don't think that was anything." I tossed the flute to her defeated.

"Why don't you try?" She slowly brought the flute up but stopped before it touched her lips and flushed a light red

"…this was on your lips last; I don't think I want to play it."

"What are you a child, this is not the time for this!"

"Look just clean the flute and then I'll play it ok?" I took the flute from her and cleaned it with my shirt sighing and handed it back to her. She played a little baba black sheep messing up on some notes either making them too high or too low.

"I thought you couldn't play?"

"I can't, I tried for a bit but gave up after it became boring."

"But we don't need a complicated song; your skill level should be fine."

"I can't remember how it went though."

"I think it went like this." I hummed the flute melody and Asuna tried to preform it. When she tried it the last note was flat; the next time it was too sharp; then the third time the first note was too low. She finally gave up and threw the flute at me.

"Stupid flute!" She stormed off angry; I stuffed the flute in my belt and caught up with her. We moved through the dungeon ignoring the fact that without the flute the oncoming boss battle was going to be difficult. I watched her blow through enemies in a pissed of rage as I followed behind.

"Maybe we should take a break so you can calm down…you seem kind of pissed."

"Who's pissed!?" I back stepped in fear and she reeled and took a deep breath, "Okay I admit I MIGHT be a little angry."

"A little?"

"Don't push it Carrot Top!" We stayed in the recently cleared room and slumped against the wall, I heard a grumbling from my stomach. I reached for the special supply Link gave me and set it on the floor. Before I opened it up I thought for a moment and turned to Asuna.

"You're not a vegetarian are you?"

"Nah, can't really be picky about food right now anyway." I heard her stomach growl and gave an amused chuckle, she gave an embarrassed blush.

"Link gave me some meats; I thought we could cook them up."

"We don't have any spices." Now's my time to shine! I pulled out a few small bottles of spices I had collected. I had rosemary, ginger, ground garlic and onion; a wide variety of herbs I had gathered hoping to get a chance to cook some good meat, "Look who's the spice cabinet."

"I'm a good cook in case you didn't know." Asuna quickly made a fire and I got to work cooking up and spicing the meat. After twenty minutes I finished my masterpiece and served her piece. I watched as she took a bite out of the meat and her expression changed from skepticism to enjoyment as she scarfed the meat down. She was enjoying it!

"This is actually pretty good!" I took a bite tasting it slowly. Something seemed off. Was it the meat was to old? No the meat was very red, no sign of rotting. Maybe it was too dry…no when I picked the meat up I had to clean my hands of the blood. Over cooked… it was a little pink in the middle so no and it wasn't undercooked.

"I think I added too much ground garlic." I gave a sigh and continued eating; when I looked over she was giving me a quizzical look.

"Too much ground garlic? It tastes great, how did you, learn to cook so well?" Her praise made me a little embarrassed; it was weird to hear someone be thankful for a change.

"Well, my mom wasn't around much of the time so I had to learn how to cook to enjoy what I liked. Eventually I had to up the ante and make it better and better each time. Even know I'm finding flaws in my cooking which means I have to get better." I looked over to see Asuna giving me a smile.

"Well if you ever need someone to taste test for you just ask." We laughed for a bit and finished eating. I cleaned up my cooking supplies as Asuna put out the fire and then we continued toward the end of the dungeon. I pulled out the flute and practiced it whenever we finished up with a room leaving the loot collecting to Asuna respectively. Eventually I was able to get half of the melody down but was still struggling with the other half.

"Dammit! This is tough."

"Will you stop messing with that flute, we're almost to the dungeon boss." We stepped into the threshold of the room to see an eye… floating inside a giant gel cube. I t rushed at us at a strange speed and we dove out of its path. Suddenly it changed course and knocked into me sending me flying into the wall. I fell to the ground and got up noticing the impact point on the wall from where I was thrown. This eye was much tougher than we first thought. I struck at the gel cutting through it; but my blow wasn't enough to strike the eye inside. I backed up putting my sword away. Dammit, the flute was our only option in this case; no way could we pierce that gel. I pulled out the flute and tried to play the melody…only to mess up the last note. The monster heard the music and came rushing at me again. As it rushed at me I threw the flute towards Asuna who caught it.

"Try playing it!"

"You know I can't get that last note!"

"Well keep trying or else we'll end up dead!" The eye shifted its view at Asuna and got ready to charge her. I Pulled out my bombs and threw them at the creature prompting it to turn its attention back on me, "Hey ugly! Bet you can't hit me. Hell, you couldn't hit the broadside of a barn you gross slimy waste of a monster!" That did it. I could see it rile up and get more pissed off the more I talked smack. It rushed at me and I dove at the last second prompting it to hit the wall. It shook it off and continued to chase around the room in hopes of hitting me but every time it missed it became angrier and angrier making its movements easier to predict. Out of the corner of my ear I heard Asuna continue to play always messing up on one note or another and the mistakes became more so the more she playes and failed. She was starting to get pissed off. I stopped for a moment, "Stay calm Asuna! Take a deep breath and keep pla-" before I could finish I felt myself smacked against a wall and I fell to the ground in more pain than last time… a lot more pain. That hit had a lot of force behind it, looks like I pissed the poor guy off more than expected.

"Soren!" Asuna shouted my name as I felt my body thrown against the wall again and again and again in rapid succession. When it was over I fell to the ground numb from the pain. I watched the creature reel back and come at me again. I shut my eyes waiting for the impact as I heard a melody waft into my ears. It was the melody we needed. I looked up to see the gel around the eye melt leaving the eye to roll around uncontrollably. I quickly moved my body and stabbed my blade into the eyeball as it went limp and dead.

I gave an exasperated sigh and fell backwards tired and in pain. I felt Asuna lift my body and put my arm over her shoulder as we went to the Triforce room. As we crossed over the eye corpse I felt that white light surround us like always, but something bigger was on my mind at the moment…or in this case missing from my mind.

"I knew you could do it, you kicked that flute in the teeth." I think my mind was a bit fuzzy at this point; too many blows to the head from getting smacked against the wall.

"Yeah yeah, just wait a minute and I'll have you back to normal." She dragged me up the stairs and touched the Triforce piece. I felt the golden light surround us and the room went white; in that moment I heard the female voice again.

"Seems your teamwork is strong. Keep moving forward, you can do it!" Did it…encourage us?

When I opened my eyes we were back at the entrance; the ruins behind us destroyed. As I stood on my own two feet I felt my mind spin and collapsed to the floor.

"Soren!" Asuna caught me before I hit the dirt and propped my body against the structure.

"Sorry, I may have healed but I still have a headache." I touched my head and felt a ping of pain rush through my head, "Give me a few minutes and I'll be right as rain."

"Yeah, I never understood that saying but okay." Asuna sat down next to me and we waited as I cleared my head. The silence was nice, in that pass time I could hear the wind, feel the dirt kick up, listen to Asuna's soft breathing until she asked me a question.

"Hey, why did you draw the monster away from me?"

"Well you needed to play that flute; if you couldn't get the melody right then we couldn't win."

"But you trusted me to get it right?"

"Well…you needed a little nudge near the end, but yeah, I knew you could do it." It went quiet for a moment and then I heard her speak.

"You know, I was kind of worried I wasn't going to be able to do it but then I saw you get pushed around by that monster and became worried. I felt I had to get it right or…you might die." I looked over to see her curl her legs to her torso, "It might not mean much to you but it's really scary to think that someone you trust might die because of you and what you did."

…

"No, I know exactly how that feels…it hurts…to look at someone and think, "They are going to die because I was weak and made the wrong choice." It hurts to think about, it…it can destroy you inside." I looked over to see Asuna have a worried expression on her face and I was puzzled why. Did she see the inner me? No, I can't let him out! I shook my head and gave her my trademark smile…but the worry in her eyes didn't go away. That was my fault; I showed her something no one should see. I stood up and brushed myself off and outstretched my hand to her, "Come on, let's keep moving, we only have three more dungeons before we face Gannon." She took my hand and stood up looking at me with that same worried expression. Don't look at me like that; I don't want to be looked at like that. I turned away from her gaze and took point as we headed for the next dungeon. But no matter how friendly we talked on the way there or how much we laughed whenever I looked into her eyes I could still see the hint of worry…and I hated it.


	13. Chapter 13

As we left the dungeon area we contemplated how to get to the next dungeon, we knew it was next to the graveyard but I would have felt better if we didn't go through there for a third time. There were other ways we could take but one of them we couldn't take which was ironically the fastest. We decided to not take the catacombs underground as we didn't want to run into the refugee camp or Link. It seemed better to keep a distance from other people after what happened with Lissa. I'm guessing that we took the blame for what happened there and I couldn't trust any lost humans with what happened with the succubus. As we walked across the land I began to notice that more and more monsters were popping out of the woodworks then before. Every area was storming with creatures that had doubled in strength of the old group and triple the number of monsters. Gannon must have been creating more monsters to stop us after Lissa found out we had four of the eight pieces and had just acquired the fifth piece. Asuna and I stopped momentarily and caught our breath from the large battle.

"How can Gannon turn out monsters so quickly? It seems impossible." Asuna said sheathing her sword and taking out some of her rations to eat.

"Maybe it's the Triforce of power that enhances his power. It would explain how so many monsters can inhabit the land under his control." I pointed out. It seemed logical considering the abundance of monsters and their brutish nature. They're just Gannon's creations so they're mindless. Although the boss monsters didn't disappear after we beat them, it seemed strange in retrospect…maybe they were hired monsters. No, they were still mindless but if their more powerful than normal monsters maybe they kept a physical form after death.

"Well it's still annoying! We can't spend our time on field monsters, we have to hurry." She was right we had no time to waste and taking the long way was already enough of a hindrance. I broke out the map and spread it along the ground as we scanned the quickest way there.

"We could go along the mountains, we would just have to cross this river over here and then take the upper mountain path." I said pointing out the path.

"I think crossing that river would be a problem, without some way to protect ourselves it would suicide." Asuna held up a rupee bag and shook it showing that there weren't a lot of rupees in it.

"The only other way is through the forest and that would take double the time."

"Well if the monsters are becoming tougher on land then I don't think we can handle the ones in the river." She had a point, the last group we took on in water we didn't exactly have the easiest time taking them out. Our rations were running low as well so getting some berries and nuts from the woods would help us stay on our feet.

"We'll have to pass through the graveyard again but that should work." I was getting sick of that place both mentally and physically. Going through there always made me feel as though Asuna was looking down on me even though I was blindfolded and that wasn't something I felt good about on any level. I took a deep breath rolling up the map and stuffing into my belt. We quickly bolted through the next few areas taking occasional breaks to rest and hide. I made sure to grab berries and nuts as we hid and grabbed some herbs on the side in case we came across some meat, I looked over to see Asuna roll her eyes as she smiled at me making me chuckle. Eventually we made it to the front of the graveyard. Asuna offered me the blindfold again and I looked at it for a moment feeling my nerves shoot off in my body. I took a deep breath and collected my thoughts.

"No…if I don't do this then I can't get stronger. I have to be able to look at them and keep moving." She gave me another sad look and we entered the graveyard. I looked around and saw the scene I had before. Piles of flesh and bones, the smell of rotting flesh and death; I could feel my stomach turn and took a big gulp trying to hold back my urge to vomit. I felt Asuna grab my hand and looked at her as she gave me a sympathetic smile. Stop it! Don't look at me like that! I don't want to be pitied. I pulled my hand away and rushed through, when I got to the end of the graveyard I waited for her. I'm not sure whether she walks slowly or she stopped along the way but it took her a little bit to catch up. We walked in silence as we walked up the stairs to the dungeon. We didn't even look at each other…or maybe I just didn't look at her…I'm not sure. We approached the dungeon and both looked up at it. As I started to cross the threshold I felt her tug at my coat and stopped.

"…What's wrong with you?" She asked in in a somber tone, it was a genuine question. It was different from how I had heard it before; before it was hurled at me like an insult and I loathed it…but somehow this felt worse.

"Nothing…"

"Obviously something is wrong with you. Every time you look at me you suddenly look away as though I've offended you."

"Sorry…I'll stop that." As I started walking again I felt her grip tighten and keep me in place.

"It's obviously more than that! Just tell me, if you don't then I can't rely on you to work with me in a fight."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine in a fight so just-"

"It's not just that dammit!" I looked at her and she had a look of anger and sadness, "We're partners! You have to trust me and tell me what's wrong! If you leave me in the dark then all I'm going to do is worry about you during every fight! Please, tell me what's wrong." That look…that look of pity. Again and again and again I see it on her face and I hate it! She pities me? I'm supposed to be the strong one, the one that others look to for help. I'm not supposed to be the one who has that look. SO WHY DOES SHE LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT?!

"STOP IT!" HER HAND UNCLENCHED FROM MY COAT.

"DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT, I CAN'T BE THE ONE WHO HAS THE PROBLEM, DON'T PITY ME!" I BOLTED INTO THE DUNGEON NOT CARING ABOUT MYSELF. I HACKED THROUGH MOSTERS AS I KEPT MOVING THROUGH DOOR WAYS. I WOULD PICK UP KEYS AND USE THEM ON ANY DOOR AS I CONTINUED TO MOVE. I'M NOT SUPPOSE TO LET MY PROBLEMS SURFACE! I HAVE TO BE THE ONE TO STAND TALL AND COMPOSED. I'M…STRONG. I'M STRONG, STRONG, STRONGER THAN MY FRIENDS, I HAVE TO BE STRONG FOR THEM. I WILL NOT LET MY WEAKNESS SHOW! I ENTERED ANOTHER ROOM AND SAW A MONSTER. IT BREATHED FIRE AND HAD THREE HEADS, I'VE SEEN IT BEFORE BUT WHO CARES WHAT IT WAS CALLED; IT WAS JUST ANOTHER OBSTACLE! I CHARGED FORWARD SLICING AT ANYTHING THAT MOVED AND STARTED TO HACK AND SLASH AT ITS BODY. IT REELED ITS NECK AND WHIPED AT ME BUT I MOVED OVER IT CUTTING THE NECK APART AND DESTROYED THE CREATURE AS IT REELED IN PAIN. HACKING AND SLASHING AT FLESH UNTIL IT STOPPED MOVING. I HEARD A SOUND OF CLAPPING BEHIND ME AND TURNED AROUND TO SEE A LARGE MAN IN A CLOAK, HAVE I MET HIM BEFORE? I DON'T CARE!

"So your blind rage is that powerful. Interesting, seems as though you aren't just another problem ridden human, you have potential." HE SPOUTED OFF USELESS WORDS THAT MENT NOTHING. HE WAS JUST ANOTHER PERSON WHO WOULD PROVE MY STRENGTH! I RUSED AT HIM AND HE MOVED BACKWARDS OUT OF REACH. I CONTINUED TO SWING AND SWING AS HE BACKED UP SMIRKING AT ME, HE WAS MOCKING ME, "There's a lot in there, its fascinating to see blind rage so condensed inside one person; show me what you can do!" HE MOVED AWAY AND ARMORED CREATURES ENTERED MY VIEW LOOKING AT ME WITH A BAD LOOK ON THERE FACE. I RUSHED FORWARD AND HACKED THEM APART UNTIL SUDDENLY THE TURNED TO SMOKE. HOW MANY DID I KILL? WHO CARES. I LOOKED OVER TO SEE THE CLOAK MAN LAUGHING, "Amazing! You have much better quality than that girl. You're a true warrior! I can help you achieve your goal. You want to be strong? Then come with me." HE EXTENDED HIS HAND TO ME. A CHANCE TO BECOME STRONG? I HAD TO TAKE IT. NOTHING MATTERED ANYMORE, THIS WAS MY ONLY CHOICE. FOR ALL THOSE…who…matter…I WILL BECOME STRONGER THAN THEM ALL!


	14. Chapter 14

"STOP IT!" I unclenched my hand in fear, this look in his eye gave me a feeling a dread, "DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT, I CAN'T BE THE ONE WHO HAS THE PROBLEM, DON'T PITY ME!" I watched as he turned around and rushed into the dungeon full speed.

"Soren!" I shouted but he kept running and I eventually lost sight of him. That look he had and his speech tone; I had heard it before. It was how I talked before when I lost it. When it happens to yourself you never forget it, but why him? I've only seen him go somber when he speaks of his life, did I hit a nerve? There was more to him then what he told me that night, something…darker. I ran after him once I collected myself. I followed the carnage left behind by Soren; he just hacked through monsters leaving behind what they dropped, he didn't care about what he could gain; only what he could destroy. As I rushed through looking for him I saw broken locks litter the ground with the key jammed into them and broken, was this Soren? This seemed…barbaric and unlike him. When I made it to the mini-boss room I saw a dead corpse of the three headed gleeok. Did he take it down by himself? I heard metal clashing in the next room and rushed over to see Soren slashing through darknuts wildly…and winning? This wasn't humanly possible! He didn't employ any tactic or skill, he just attacked them upfront. Was this the rage he was capable of? I had to stop him!

I rushed forward and felt the wind push me back into the previous room.

"Dammit, what was that?" I stood up shakily and dusted of my clothes to see that succubus giving me a sly smile, "You! Out of my way! I have to save Soren!"

"From what exactly? He seems to be faring better than you did in that state."

"From himself, He'll end up dead if he's not careful!" I rushed forward and she outstretched her hand sending a force that pushed me back.

"I doubt that, he's utterly destroying those creatures. But more than that he's causing them to feel fear." Fear?

"But they're mindless creatures. How can they feel fear?"

"That's the most interesting piece. His rage and desire is so pent up it's instilling the idea of fear into these creatures made of magic. His aroma right now is intoxicating, if it weren't for the fact that we can use him I would eat him up and savor every bite of his emotional level." She quivered in delight as she gripped her own body disgusting me, "Just thinking about it gets me bothered."

"Whatever! What do you want with Soren?" She came back to her senses and laughed at me.

"Well little girl, I don't want him but that man does." That man?

"Gannon?" She gave an uproarious laugh.

"Gannon is not worth a single penny compared to who I'm talking about, but you know him. In fact you've met him before, he tested you…and you failed." That cloaked man!? He caused my state of mind in that moment, what could he do to Soren!? I have to hurry! I rushed forward again and she extended her tail and wrapped it around my body immobilizing me, "I am interested to figure out how you brought this side of him out, even the big guy had trouble figuring out how to open that Pandora's box, but he was right on one thing." She brought me closer and whispered into my ear, "You were the key." I caused this? He's like this because of me? I felt her drop me and I slumped to the ground feeling the cold floor against my legs, "As you learned to trust him and he in turn trusted you it eventually led to him revealing his true emotion and you asking him personal questions, making the grip he had break and giving us this beast." She laughed and pulled my chin up to look her in the eye, "I guess I should thank you, but how?" She dropped my chin as my head slumped back down and I looked up to see her side stepped by the door, "Seeing as you caused this mess I'll give you a chance to undo it, but I doubt even you could quell that rage, he will kill you and I will take that feeling of betrayal from your dying corpse and enjoy every bite." She gave me a chance to save him? I stood up and ran forward but felt my feet stop at the threshold. Why couldn't I move? Was I afraid? I saw Soren stand there in the aftermath of the fight and shivered in fear as I looked at him. It felt like I was looking at wild animal, if I wasn't careful I could die and there was no guarantee of success. I could fail in bringing him to his senses and then what!? I would die without succeeding, without any reason why I died!

A memory flashed in my head from a few days back. I sat there in pain as I watched a wave of fire come at me. I was about to charge into it when I saw a figure slide in front of me…it was Soren. As his hands were burned and he suffered a concussion from my hilt he fell asleep with a smile. He was unsure if he would wake up again and he still saved me…no…that's not true, he knew I could do it. He didn't doubt me and he saved me because he knew I would do it. He risked his life because he trusted me to come back to my senses. Now I have to do the same for him. I took a deep breath and rushed forward to save my partner.

 **SOREN?**

FOR ALL THOSE…who…matter…I WILL BECOME STRONGER THAN THEM ALL!

"Soren!" I TURNED AROUND TO SEE A BLACK HAIRED FEMALE. ANOTHER OBSTACLE IN MY WAY! I PULLED MY SWORD UP AND LOOKED AT HER. SHE HAD THIS FAMILIAR LOOK ON HER FACE. HAD I…seen her before? Who am I? What's happening to me!? OBSTACLE! I MOVED FORWARD FASTLY AND SWUNG AT HER. SHE MOVED BACWARDS AS I CONTINUED TO SWING. AS I LOOKED AT HER FACE SHE HAD THIS CALM LOOK ON HER FACE. AS I CONINUED TO SWING I NOTICED WE CAME CLOSER TO THE WALL. SHE WOULD MOVE EVENTUALY. SHE CONTINUED TO BACK UP AND EVENTUALY WE HIT THE WALL. I DUG THE SWORD INTO THE WALL AS I APPROACHED HER. SHE CONTINUED TO LOOK AT ME WITH THAT DETERMINED EXPRESSION.

"Soren, please come back." SOREN? THAT NAME...FeLt FAmiLiAr…NO! I GRABBED HER BY HER NECK AND BEGAN TO SQUEEZE WATCHING HER BODY CONVULSE. I WATCHED HER STRUGGLE AND FELT EXILIRATING PLEASURE AND…overwhelming regret. Why was I strangling my VICTIM! I FELT HER HAND ON MY ARM AND SHE GAVE ME A LOOK OF SADDNESS. I…I've seen this person before, this was Asuna. My partner! Why am I strangling her!? SHE IS JUST AN OBSTACLE TO OUR GOAL! Who said that!? Who are you? IT DOESN'T MATTER, JUST GIVE ME CONTROL! No, I won't let you hurt her! DIDN'T YOU WANT TO BE STRONG? THIS IS HOW WE DO IT! I want to be strong for the people I care about! If I hurt them then what am I getting strong for! THAT IS WHERE WE ARE DIFFERENT; I WILL BECOME STRONG SO I DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ANYONE ELSE, SO THAT MOMENT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN! What moment!? How did you get in my head? IT DOESN'T MATTER JUST GIVE UP AND LET ME CONTROL! This is my body ad I won't let you use it to hurt her! I concentrated with all my might and felt my hands loosen. I stepped back and panted feeling my head about to split in two. FINE, YOU MAY HAVE CONTROL NOW BUT ONE DAY I WILL CONTROL OUR BODY FOREVER. Our body? What did that voice mean by that? I shook it off and immediately went to help Asuna.

"Asuna! I'm so sorry! How could I think of hurting you? Are you okay?" I felt her wrap her arms around my neck and stopped dead in my movement.

"Thank god you're back! You had me so worried you idiot!" I hugged Asuna back and took a deep breath.

"Asuna, I will tell you everything so you won't have to worry anymore."

"That's okay, you don't have to tell me, I won't ask."

"No! I have to tell you, otherwise…I can't guarantee this won't happen again but…can you wait till we leave this dungeon?" She looked and me and smiled.

"Okay." I heard clapping and we looked over to see the cloaked man applauding slowly. Otherwise known as the condescending clap…bastard!

"How touching, but my offer is still on the table, I can make you stronger. Just take my hand." What offer was he talking about?

"I have no idea what you're talking about but I don't care either, I won't abandon her!" I stood up pulling my sword out of the wall and stared at him. He backed up which confused me.

"Interesting, I have more work to do I see." I watched him disappear into the shadow of the room and sheathed my sword.

"What the hell!?" I turned around to see Lissa standing there enraged by what she saw.

"You should be enraged, and you should be dead! What happened to that emotional level of rage and desire is gone! There's not even a trace of it! How is this possible!?" She continued to scream and I just looked at her and a question ran through my head.

"What are you gaining out of this?" She stopped and looked at me, "You obviously don't care about what Gannon wants or we would be dead and if you wanted the emotional level I had you would have taken it. Obviously you're working with that man but what are you gaining out of this?" She looked at me and I noticed her rage replaced with anxiety, "Wait, if you're not from here like us…are you from another world to?" Suddenly I watched her shrink back and shiver, "You're working with him to get home aren't you?" She bolted backwards and left the room into the darkness. I must have hit the nail on the head with that guess. I looked over at Asuna and helped her up as she rubbed her throat. I could still see the bruise mark.

"…Sorry about that." She bonked me on the head and tsk-ed me.

"Don't apologize about this, you took burn marks for me so let's just call it even okay?" I laughed and she gave me a smile.

"If that's what you want okay!" We started to move forward into the dungeon but the voice I ran into still hung in the back of my mind…possibly more literal than I think. We soon found the magic rod in the basement level and examined it thoroughly.

"Do we have to have the mental capacity to use this or is it self-powered?" I questioned moving it around and examining every angle. I shot it forward and felt my body drain as strong energy shot from the wand. I collapsed to my knees in exhaustion.

"Careful!" Asuna helped me up as I felt my head pound, "Obviously you need the mental power, let me try." She shot the wand's power out and staggered for a moment, "That felt weird." She was still standing which made me question why my mental strength was so lacking. Maybe that moment from before drained me…or maybe it was something else, "Don't get so deep in thought there." I snapped out of it and looked at Asuna who was looking down at me, "Just get some practice and you'll be fine." She handed me the wand and we decided to continue. I used the rod periodically when I felt I could use it and keep fighting. Eventually I got to the point where I could use it twice and then switch to sword play before tiring out, "Good, you have a hand on it so let's keep moving." I put the wand away and followed her into the deeper reaches of the dungeon. Eventually we made it to the boss room and saw the area was dimly lit and empty.

"I can't see a thing, are there any torches around?"

"Use your lamp." I pulled out the lamp and lit it. With that light I surveyed the walls and lit any wall torches illuminating the room. As I lit them I could hear something skitter along the floor prompting me to turn around only to see nothing. When finished we looked around the room to see it was empty, not even bones or remains of previous adventurers, "Let's move before something pops up." Asuna pointed to the open door on the other side of the room.

"Right…let's go." As we approached the door I heard that skittering sound again and pulled out my sword in caution; I saw Asuna had done the same.

"We're not alone in this room, be careful." We kept next to each other and moved slowly through the room making sure we had a full view of the room from all angles. Suddenly it went dark again and the next moment I felt something slam me to the floor. I hastily pulled out my lamp to see the giant arachnid Gohma standing on me. I rolled out of her clutches and saw it had Asuna and was wrapping her up very quickly. I shined the lamp to the ceiling to see strings of spider thread and the husks of people caught in the remains of those strings. I sliced my sword at her cutting an appendage off and causing it to drop Asuna mid-wrap, "Thanks, let's get her!" I nodded and looked back to see the appendage I cut off had grown back. I rushed at us moving too fast for us to dodge. Man, if spiders were this big in my world the human race would be screwed. It slammed us back to the floor and shot webs at us. We moved around avoiding its string and hacked at it only to find the areas we hit already healed.

"Dammit! Small hits won't cut it with this monster; we need to kill it with one hit!"

"Wasn't gohma's weakness an arrow directly to her eye?" She was right; one arrow and that's the end of gohma. Asuna pulled out her bow and shot at the eight legged abomination only to watch it move out of line with her arrow.

"It's moving too quickly for us to get a direct hit! We need to stall it."

"How do you suppose we do that brainiac!?" The only thing gohma wants is food…I've got it! I moved quickly in front of Asuna and rushed at gohma. I whiffed my attack and it grabbed me and started to wrap me moving quickly, "Soren!"

"Take the shot…now!" The binding was starting to crush me making it hard to breath. From the corner of my eye I saw Asuna line up her shot and take aim; the arrow flew hitting gohma in the eye, causing it to go limp and drop me. The queen was dead with a silver arrow imbedded in its eye. Asuna moved quickly and unwrapped me from the binding.

"Moron! You put yourself in a lot of danger!" She reprimanded hitting my head.

"We needed a clear shot and it needed to be distracted to get that." I pointed out rubbing the bruise she left on my head.

"Doesn't matter, be more careful!" We laughed for a bit enjoying our victory. Wait, this is the first dungeon we beat without heavy damage! A few busted ribs but nothing serious. We were getting a lot stronger, this was awesome! I stood up and felt that same energy surround us, it once again emanated from the monster we just slew. We moved quickly and touched the piece of the Triforce feeling that golden glow and blinding light consume us as it had before.

"…he came out? I didn't plan for this." The voice had a hint of fear as it asked that question which made me cautious. Before its tone always became happier as we succeeded but this time it seemed afraid of something. Did it mean the cloaked man or…the other thing?

When the light died we were back at the entrance, the dungeon behind us in ruins. We looked up at the sky to see the sun was starting to set; we had to find shelter before night fell. I thought back to the calve where we got the sword, if I remember correctly it's near here.

"Come on, I know where to head." I grabbed Asuna's hand and we ran to our known shelter. When we got there we entered and I started to prepare the fire. Hmmm…let's try it. I pulled out the wand and pointed it at the fire pit.

"Soren, that doesn't seem like a good-" That's all I heard before I swung the wand and saw wood and stone scatter. When the smoke cleared the spot with the fire pit was a small hole in the ground. Opps. I felt Asuna hit me upside my head and grumble as she gathered the remains. After making the fire Asuna plopped down in front of it warming her hands. I took my fingerless gloves off and did the same feeling the cold night set in. I took a deep breath and looked at Asuna who looked back with a quizzical expression.

"Asuna, it's time you heard the whole story."


	15. Chapter 15

To start off, I've always been fascinated by games. I loved the world, the skill required to play and the depth of games I played that I always wanted to see what world I could explore through this medium. I was about five when we moved. My mom had to move because of her job and so we left our nice home in Nevada to head to our new home in Colorado. I was too young to really see care but it hit my sister hard, she was ten and made a lot of friends so leaving meant leaving all those friends she had made. When we got there she seemed somber and detached for a while, always staying by herself and avoiding us. Thinking back on it I understand, she left her life behind to start a new one in Colorado against her will. That's why I didn't take it hard when she picked on me and ordered me around, I felt bad for her. By the time I was eleven things started to take a nose dive, she ended up pregnant while she was still in high school. I felt like she had made a big mistake but still supported her through it all, not only because I felt like I should but because I wanted to. I liked helping people and being there for them when they're feeling down; that feeling of doing something good for someone else exhilarated me and made me feel alive.

It was around this time that my father ended up in a diabetic coma, I couldn't remember why he did; as far as I knew he was always that unhealthy, maybe I was too young to actually know what he was like before that moment. When he awoke he couldn't remember anything about his family. To him it felt like he woke up one day with us, so he didn't see us as his family, just people. From that point on the only memories I've made with my father weren't as father and son but as two people getting to know each other. I always felt a disconnection from my 'father' as he never really treated me as a son; at best he treated me like a roommate.

A year passed, my father eventually gave up on becoming healthy; accepting his diabetic state and knowing his inevitable death. He became a burden to us, he was just a couch potato with no purpose, an very expensive rock would be the best comparison. My sister gave birth to her daughter and gave her up for adoption knowing that she couldn't take care of the child. You know I was proud of her for doing that, putting the child before herself but later I found out she never wanted the child to begin with. Eventually her boyfriend joined the military and promptly dumped her a few months later. It was at that point that she tried to kill herself, she overdosed on prescription meds but luckily we were able to save her. After she came back I helped her however I could to make her feel better hoping she would return to how she was before. She may not have been nice but she was confident and could stand on her own two feet but now she staggered and fell at confrontation and hardship…all I wanted was my sister back. I must have been a fool to think that. Eventually she ran in with some 'friends' and started her life of drugs. For the next two years I watched my home become a drug house with people that never came back twice coming in and out of the house. I didn't question it, I didn't involve myself in it and I kept my nose down…my mother did the same. She was a nice person but not very confident in the face of conflict, it hurt her to see this happen but she didn't have the heart to fight back. At that point I had fully immersed myself in the gaming world, spending whatever time at home I could playing, escaping to another world to escape from this one. After those two years the cops finally stopped by and arrested my sister. At that moment I felt relief but I didn't know why; my mother bailed her out and five grand later she was tried and given ten years of probation. To most people this seemed like a win but for me I had a feeling of dread and sorrow wash over me. Over the years my sister became angrier and angrier and always took it out on her family, and her brother. Every time she would fall we would all fall with her. I resented her for that and I loathed her laziness and anger to the point where that feeling of joy for helping her turned to loathing at her inability to do it herself.

I never let it show though, through it all I had to keep strong knowing that if I lost it then my mother would as well. Everything I did I did to protect the last person I considered family on their feet and it worked. After a while though I found myself slipping on certain occasions; letting the dark loathsome part of me out for the world to see. Then I would get that look of pity and I when I looked at it I felt an intense feeling of rage build. I was angry, at them for looking at me with pity and at myself for giving them a reason to worry; I had to be strong for those around me and when I let my strength wane I brought worry to those I cared about. I grew to hate that look, it represented that I wasn't strong enough to protect everyone I cared about. I worked harder to keep myself in check from that point on but eventually it got out of hand. I found myself more pissed off at the tiny request asked by my sister and father and the loathing grew to the point where it affected me in my dreams. Now, every few months I have a reoccurring dream where I find myself in the same room as my sister; she talks but I can't understand a word. I feel a consuming rage boil over and I scream at her. I scream at her about her life, her choices, everything she has ever done to herself and other people and when I'm done I no longer hear her, but I see her. I see her with bullet wounds in various places and the gun that caused it still warm in my hands. Then I wake up. One day I came home and tried to instantly escape into the gaming world but I never got to go that day because I had to be strong and take care of the problems of my sister and my father. When I was done so was the day and instead of feeling angry I felt sad. I thought to myself that I wanted things to be different and suddenly I was given the choice of doing just that and I took it; the next thing I knew I was in this world. I worked hard to make it through dungeons but I would always cower in moments of tension showing just how weak I am and that look of pity set me off turning me into someone else entirely. I don't know who it was but it wasn't me. It was…someone else entirely.

When I finished my story I looked over to see Asuna with a worried look on her face. It wasn't a look of pity, she looked at me with an understanding and concerned look on her face.

"I…I'm sorry." She said shakily.

"It's not your fault."

"But I made you relive the worst parts of your life in your head, every moment that you hated." I grabbed her shoulders to stop her from shaking.

"I don't regret telling you this; I wanted you to know who I really was. I won't let this stop us know." She looked away and took a deep collecting herself.

"Then I guess it's my turn huh?" She said with a sad smile.

"Oh no, you don't have to if you don't want to." I said nervously.

"No. I want you to know. I want you to know who I really am." She looked at me with a serious look. She meant it. I sat down as she told me her origin.

"I was about 7 when it all happened. I had grown up a happy little girl; I enjoyed the world outside, walking through forests and parks enjoying the fresh air and sunlight. It couldn't last forever though, one day while playing in the park I felt my legs suddenly go numb and I fell to the grass. My mother and father took me to the hospital and they diagnosed me with GBS, Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Luckily it only affected my legs but too much motion made it spread to the other parts of my body. After a month it went away and I was allowed to go home, I was so happy to get back to my life and sunshine outside. It didn't last long; I ended up back there a week later. They did more test and it ended up I had an immune system that was too active and kept attacking my body. Believe it or not I'm the first in my family line to have it." She paused and took a deep breath, "For the next ten years I spent my life in a hospital bed unable to move around. It made me sad after a year of sitting there, I missed the outside world and the sunlight on my face; even through a window it doesn't feel the same when you can't smell the air and feel the wind blow your hair back. I grew bored and depressed with my life. I cursed my body for being so weak and knew that if I was stronger this wouldn't happen. From that point on I hated my body, I wished I hadn't been so weak. Around my tenth birthday my family brought in a brand new Wii and a handful of games. As I played those games I felt exhilarated, this let me experience the world I couldn't and be a part of it. I enjoyed every game they brought me and every system knowing that I could be someone stronger than who I was in the real world. Then, a few days ago, I was loading up my 3Ds and absentmindedly looked out the window at the bright sunlight…and cried. I cried at the world I might never see, feel or be a part of again. In that moment I thought that I wanted a new start and then my system gave me a choice and I took it. When I woke up I could move around, I could feel the sun and the wind. I was so happy. From that point on I took up a new name to get rid of the weak me I left behind and so I called myself Asuna after the strongest female swordswoman I knew." Asuna…must have been from SAO. Probably should have questioned her name when it was of Japanese origin when she was clearly American by her tone, language and habits, "When that cloaked man brought up my other self I snapped, I never wanted to remember her, I wanted to be someone else entirely. I learned though that I can never escape who I am, thanks to you I know that there is no difference between either versions of me. There never will be and I'm okay with that." She stood up and looked at me, "I took up the cause of saving this world because I cared about people and wanted to help them so they never have to go through the same type of pain and longing I went through. I saw how those refugees yearned for their land back. Those fake smiles can only hide so much and I know that I can help take that longing away; I won't give up. I'll fight to help those people and give them the warmth and open land they deserve, because I understand that pain I want to make sure no one else experiences it. I won't let my envy and self-loathing stop me from doing this." She reached her hand out to me, "But I can't do it without my partner by my side, I'll stand by you, will you stand by me?" She was still willing to trust me after hearing my story. Even after telling me her story she treated me the same as before if not better, I felt myself tear up a little at this gesture. For the first time in my long life I found someone who I could tell my story and they still stood by me. The fear of losing people hung in the back of my mind whenever they saw the real me but she still trusted me after everything she knew now and everything she told me she was still willing to stand tall with me by her side. I wiped my tears away and took her hand. She pulled me up and looked me in the eye with determination and trust. I looked back with that same feeling.

"My name is Alice Blair and I will stick by you till this is over."

"My name is Soren Thain and I will stick by you till the end of this." We looked over and noticed the sun rising outside the cave. We had talked through the night until morning but I didn't feel tired, just ready for whatever comes next. We gathered our supplies and set out ready for the next dungeon ready for whatever anyone wants to throw at us.


	16. Chapter 16

When the sun was high enough in the sky we rushed as quickly as we could to the next dungeon. The monsters were becoming more organized and frequent as we moved. Gannon was getting desperate in trying to get rid of us. Every one we killed was replaced with ten more; I used the rod to clear through most of them and Alice shot down the others with her arrows. As we moved we lost track of where we were going and ended up in a dead ended area.

"Crap!"

"What now?" Alice asked keeping her guard up. I looked around and saw a group of six statues to our left. I moved quickly pushing one of them out of the way and opening up a secret set of stairs.

"Come on!" We moved down and listened as the hoard of monsters shuffled above ground searching for us. We moved deeper into the cave and found a man sitting at the end.

"Who are you?" I asked unsure of whether or not this man was trustworthy. I looked around to notice a few items were on the ground in front of him.

"I don't have time to tell you my backstory so buy something or leave!" He yelled. This guy was just like the first vendor I ran into.

"Hey! Is that anyway to talk to paying costomers?" Alice yelled insulted.

"All I see is two stupid kids with no money."

"Oh you are asking for it!" I restrained Alice as she tried to pull her sword out.

"It's not worth it!"

"I beg to differ!" After calming her down we looked at his wares. He was selling a dungeon key for 80 rupees, two blue rings for 300, and a piece of meat for 60.

"What do the rings do?" I asked.

"They produce a magical barrier around the wearer that lessens the damage done to them in battle." Those would help us immensely with how close battles are to us dying.

"And the meat?"

"It's meat, it's for eating." Helpful…jackass. I purchased the rings and the meat and gave one of the rings to Alice and slipped the other ring on my finger. I felt an aura of protection surround me keeping any harmful entities away, it then shattered leaving the aura permanently on me.

"Why the meat?" Alice asked shaking her head at, what I assumed, was my stupidity for buying it.

"They wouldn't sell it without some reason so I bought it."

"You're a moron."

"We'll see about that sooner or later."

"The fact that you can't prove me wrong now just makes this a much worse ordeal for you than before." We left the shop and looked above ground to see the monster hoard had moved on and moved toward the next dungeon. We approached the pond to see a moblin patrolling the area. After dispatching him Alice played the flute…a few times before getting it right. When the entrance was open I watched as Alice snapped the flute in half throwing it away.

"Alice!"

"Don't care, I hate that flute. You know that's how my flute lessons ended to." She walked by me like nothing happened and entered the dungeon. I followed behind trying to forget the now destroyed flute.

As we entered the dungeon it felt like the cold wind was missing from this place, as though the maliciousness and danger were less prominent than before. It might have been the protective aura that surrounded us or something else but no matter what it was we felt ready to take on the dungeon. We swept through rooms eliminating creatures of darkness and vanquishing our enemies with ease feeling more confident in our skill as we proceeded. As we walked into the next room ready for whatever was about to attack us we saw the eye gelled monster from our last dungeon; we would have felt prepared…nut we had no flute.

"See why you shouldn't destroy things that piss you off!?"

"I stand by my choice, besides the door over there is open, we don't have to fight." I felt the creature slam me against the wall forcefully. I fell to the ground and stood back up brushing the pain off. Useful aura; we moved to the door avoiding the monster and watched as it slammed at the opening sending the eye flying out of the gel right at us. I swiped my sword across the eye cutting it in half and watched as the creature disintegrated. Weird, they usually disappear in a smoke, we moved on feeling a little more cautious as know we knew that we weren't prepared for everything. We made it to the item room and found another lantern but this one looked newer and wasn't covered in rust and dried blood. I picked up the new lantern and strapped it to the side of my belt.

"Want this one?" I asked Alice holding out the old lantern, gave me a look of disbelief and shook her head.

"No woman, nay, no PERSON would want this lantern." I shrugged putting the lantern back in my belt satchel. We moved on not too concerned with the monsters we encountered; we did end up in another room with the gel creature but maneuvered around it and killed it in its own stupidity like last time, but instead of dissolving it disappeared in a puff of smoke. This was getting strange; we made it to the boss room to see the dragon I faced my first time staring me down as though it knew me. It shot fire at us wildly moving around trying to get us with its power. This one was much smarter than the one I faced; we couldn't approach it without it flinging its tail at us pushing us to the back of the room where it could resume shooting fireballs at us. I pulled out my boomerang and threw it at him hoping to hit his horn but he shot a fireball at it burning it to a crisp. There goes the least used item in my stock; I decided to switch it up and pulled out my wand and shot it at the creature watching as the wave of magic struck the creature causing it to stagger. Alice moved quickly, approaching the creature she moved up its body and cut the horn off and stabbed at the soft spot inside. The monster shrieked in pain before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Why did that one disappear to!? It didn't make any sense for the first one to leave a corpse while this one didn't. I felt the energy surround me as I thought. There had to be some reason for some monsters to leave a body or decay while others just disappeared without a trace.

"Lost in thought there?" I turned around to see who was speaking and saw the cloaked man. Alice and I unsheathed our swords ready for him to attack.

"What do you want?" Alice asked keeping her guard up.

"You two have somehow passed my expectations of how long you would survive and I am impressed." He spoke like this was a game to him, "It's quite interesting to see how far you have come and still not cracked under the pressure. I've seen others with way more potential give in and just accept my offer but you two seem stubborn." He pulled out a large sword and got into a battle stance. What was he doing, "But now I'll have to show you how weak you are myself!"

He rushed at me and swung his blade from the left causing me to slide back to avoid the hit but he jumped forward punching me in the gut causing me to fall to the ground. I stood up to see he had moved on to Alice and was swinging as she maneuvered around his strikes avoiding getting hit. I moved behind him and swung at his back but watched as he blocked with his blade and swung sending me back. I watched as he jumped and kicked me down onto the floor. Damn, he was tough! I looked over to see Alice on the attacking end swinging quickly as he blocked with little effort. I joined in and swung trying to catch him off guard but he just moved quicker blocking both of our attacks with ease. I pulled out the wand and shot it at him watching as it bypassed his sword hitting him in the side. Yes, a hit!

"Fine, you want to get serious, I can do that." Alice and I watched as he floated into the sky and opened his robe to reveal an arsenal of magical items from other games. I couldn't believe what I saw, it was like staring at an otakus utility belt! He had a magic brush from Okami, a set of black planet pins from The World Ends With You, E tanks from Mega Man, even his cloak was a cape from Super Mario 3 and…the master sword!? He pulled out the master sword and shot magical beams at us in rapid succession making it more than impossible to dodge. His power was a lot more than either of us expected it to be! I moved constantly to avoid the blast of magic but he was able to predict my movement quicker than even I could. I had to stop this before he killed us.

"Alice!" She looked at me and I motioned to the cloaked man and she nodded. She moved around trying to hit him taking his attention of me. I moved up to strike him and he blocked my sword.

"Predictable." He said coldly.

"Not predictable enough though!" He looked quizzically at me as I said that and I lit a bomb throwing it at his chest and backing out as it exploded directly on his body. He fell to the ground and stood up dusting himself off. There wasn't a scratch on him! He pointed his sword at me about to shoot another magical wave at me but nothing came out.

"What!?"

"You're damaged; the only way the master sword shoots of beams is when its wielder is at full health." I said staggering from the pain of the recent attacks.

"Clever boy, fine, I'll leave." He sheathed his blade and looked at the both of us with a scowl. I looked over at Alice to see she was badly hurt from this fight, "That stubbornness can only last so long and then you will join me." He walked away leaving us alone. What did he want with us? My mind let this thought drift away as I collapsed to the ground exhausted. No matter how I look at it only one answer arrives. Why did we survive? Because he let us live. He was too powerful to face again and he left us in a state of near death. I moved over to Alice and helped her up and we slowly moved to the Triforce piece feeling our bodies start to give out on us. I quickly touched the piece and felt the golden light envelope us in warmth and the light cloud our vision. She was there again like always.

"Don't let him take you down his dark path; there is no goal of the renegade." She spoke wisely but I couldn't figure out the meaning behind her words as the light faded. We dropped in front of the dungeon and I looked behind me to see the pond was refilled and deeper than before. We tried to walk forward but felt my legs give out and fell to the ground. We were still wounded? What type of damage did he do to us? I looked over to see Alice in the same type of pain and panicked; if were found in this condition we're done for! I used what little strength I had and moved us into the thickets of the forest where we could hide. We weren't going to be able to move for a little bit and needed rest if we were going to recover. I pulled any fallen leaves around us and covered us for camouflage hoping noting would disturb us as we slept. I looked over at Alice to see she had passed out but was breathing normally; I gave a sigh of relief and closed my eyes in the hopes of sleeping. Before I drifted off to sleep I knew one thing about that cloaked man; he had been to many worlds and was recruiting others for some goal and I would bet were not the first recruits. I felt my body relax and fell asleep unsure of why I was here anymore. It was clear we were here to do more than just save this world but what else we were supposed to do still eluded me.


	17. Chapter 17

When I woke up it was dark, the world was covered the shadow of the night and I looked around to see that the monsters were gone. I shook Alice awake and she slowly woke up.

"(Yawn) What happened?" She asked still groggy from sleep.

"The monsters are gone, we should move while we can."

"No, they become more active at night remember?"

"Well there are none around us and if we stay here we could be surrounded." She nodded and we got up and moved through the night. The roads were clearer and devoid of any type of life having been on them which was strange. I thought the monsters would become more violent at night; it made sense considering who we were up against. I felt Alice tug and pull me into the forest thickets.

"What was-" Alice put her hands over my mouth and pointed to the road we were on. When I looked I saw a bright light traveling down our way and when it came into view I could see a hoard of moblins and Lynel walking our way. As they passed I saw they were carrying a wagon and when it bumped over a rock a human hand hung out of the tarp covering it. What was in that!? I fell backwards in surprise and recollected myself, "Should we follow them?" I asked Alice; this was interesting, usually the creatures don't have a goal other than killing humans, so what were they doing carrying that cart? Alice nodded and we followed the cart sticking to the thickets and areas out of sight to the monsters. We eventually came to the lost woods and followed them as they worked through the pattern towards their goal. It seems like they have some semblance of intelligence since they worked through the lost forest. Eventually we came to the graveyard entrance and watched them enter the area of graves. Alice gave me a worried look and I took a deep breath. Passing through here isn't easy but to find out what they're doing. We entered and watched as they took the wagon tarp off to reveal dead human bodies, still fresh and covered in all manner of wounds that caused their deaths. I felt my stomach heave and my pupils shrink in horror at the number of bodies piled together. What I saw next is hard to put into words…they ripped every piece of skin and tissue off the bodies and tossed the bones into a pile and the flesh went to another pile. So that pile of flesh was just that…piles of flesh; then what did they do with the bones? Suddenly a robbed creature with a tall pointed cap appeared and looked at the monsters giving a nod then turned to the bones.

"What are they doing?" Alice said puzzled by their actions. The creature pulled out a strange wand and waved it over the pile of bones sprinkling some kind of magic powder on them. The skeletons stood up suddenly and we watched as skin and nerves formed around the skeleton recreating the human skeleton into…a…moblin!? The skeletons they collected were now monsters, Gannon's creatures of the dark, "No way…all those monsters we fought…were human?" Alice spoke bewildered at the event she just witnessed, as was I. This was insane; they used human skeletons as a base for their army of creatures, which was why they hunted humans! In the end we're just pawns in their game to rule this world. I felt my rage boil and pulled out my sword rushing at the group of monsters. I luckily caught them off guard being able to kill the wizard and two moblins before they began to attack. Because of the massive number of skeletons they used I was a bit outnumbered but that wasn't going to stop me now! I moved around swiftly dodging their mediocre attack and attacked back destroying them. I wasn't going to let them just use us like were a cheap resource that they could use up till they moved on! It was clear to me that Gannon wanted more than Hyrule, he wanted this world. I had struck down about half of the group before I felt like I was about to hit my limit; I backed away from the hoard to catch my breath and looked at them to notice that the bones of the monsters had reappeared behind them where another wizard was reanimating them. Damnit! No wonder the numbers were always getting bigger, they reused the bones they had! A Goriya threw a boomerang at me and Alice stepped in striking it back at the monster.

"How about thinking before you rush in!" She yelled at me as she stood her ground, "Not that I would have done any different but still!" As a moblin shot at her she struck the arrow and stabbed the moblin, "You catch your breath and rejoin the fight. With this big a group we'll have to switch in and out to get rid of them quickly enough!" She maneuvered around an octorock as it charged at her and sliced it in half, "Go after the mage when you have the chance!" I took a moment and collected myself, feeling reenergized I stood up and rushed forward toward Alice.

"Switch!" Alice backed up as I took her position and struck at the monsters getting rid of as many as I could with what energy I had.

"Switch!" I rolled back as Alice stepped forward hacking through creatures as fast as she could, moving around smoothly to avoid attack and delivering counter attacks.

"Switch!" I moved back in catching as many monsters in the way of my sword as I could making sure to block any melee attack with my blade and returning the attack full force.

"Switch!" This went on for a while as the numbers thinned bit by bit making attacks from them less frequent. We were still at a disadvantage in this matter as the switches left us moments to recover a bit of our strength. I panted heavily hacking through monsters feeling my moves become sloppy and leave more openings to be attacked.

"Switch." Alice moved in to take over vanguard as I rested. I watched as she became slower in her attacks and her dodges were rough and sloppy. We couldn't keep this up, any moment we'll be overwhelmed when we both need to rest; we needed one big attack to get those two mages. I had a way to do that but it was a bit risky.

"Alice! Get your bow out and aim it at the wizard when you have the shot!" Alice looked at me quizzically for a moment and nodded falling back behind me. I pulled out the wand and focused it in front of me. Welling up all my remaining energy I shot a wave of magic directly in front of me destroying all the monsters leaving he wizard defenseless. I saw an arrow wiz past my head and strike the wizard destroying it. I gave a sigh of relief and fell backwards in exhaustion; luckily I didn't faint like usual but Alice still rushed over to check on me with a worried look on her face. Instead of pissing me off like it usually did, this time it made me smile.

"You idiot. You're to reckless you know that?"

"Maybe a little. We won though." We both laughed relieved at the safety we felt in this moment. After a few minutes I stood up and looked around at the bone and skin piles that were left. As I looked at the skeletons I felt this feeling of sadness wash over me.

"What do we do with these?" Alice asked unsure of how to handle the situation. I knew what we had to do though. I looked around the graveyard and found two shovels against an old gravestone. I grabbed the shovels and tossed on to Alice.

"We bury the bones and burn the leftover skin." She looked at me, shocked at what I'd just said. I knew it was strange to think of burying all these bones but it had to be done, and just leaving the skin to rot was not the right thing to do, "Trust me, it's the right thing to do." She gave me a nod and we got to work. I set the piles of discarded flesh on fire first as it was going to take some time for all that skin and nerve to burn away and we dug fresh holes for every pile of bones giving each one a small wooden cross gravestone. These were not going to be unmarked graves for people to walk over or dig up; these people will not be disturbed in the afterlife. I never took much thought in life after death but if it did exist then these people deserve at least this, in the end everyone wants to be remembered after their gone. For the rest of the night we watched the flesh pile burn and when the sun rose above the mountains the next morning nothing was left. This graveyard looked like a place to respect the dead and remember them, like it should have.

"You were right." I looked over at Alice and she just looked at the rising sun with a smile, "This place looks like it should and it's because of you."

"Us."

"No, I would have just left it all here and moved on. Why didn't you though?"

"Maybe I didn't grow up with a great life l wanted to share but I wanted to give others what I didn't have. I didn't want them to experience what I did and so I did what I could to help those I love. I'm not going to let something I see as unfair just continue because I have better things to do, I won't abandon them, if I did I would just let the despair and selfishness affect others as it did me. I'd rather fill this world with hope and companionship, besides…" I pointed behind us to the graveyard we had fixed, "The end result is always wort it in my opinion." Alice giggled and looked at the ground.

"You're right about that. That's why I want to save this world. I'm positive the end result will be worth it. Maybe the same can be said for my world as well, I just have to try right?"

"Even the smallest change in how you approach something can make a big difference."

"Right. You know I was actually planning on just staying in this world forever but now…I want to go back! I want to live my life in that world, I want to beat my illness and go back to the fresh air and sunlight of my home, I was ready to just give up on that world but there is still so much I want to do! Things I can only do in my world, I want to travel, see places I can experience myself and make memories that I will cherish because they're from my home world and I know I can! I've seen this world countless times and I know how the story plays out, but my world is always another mystery and I want to experience that! I'm not weak, maybe I'll have to wait a while but I won't give up on moving and being able to see my whole world with my own eyes, it's worth it to me and I'll never forget that. I know I'm strong enough to beat my illness, after all, there is no difference between the me here and the me sitting in my hospital bed. Right?"

"Right." Alice, you're really different from the girl I first met. Before you hid behind this version of yourself and saw it as a new start where you could abandon the world to become someone different, but through everything you've learned that this version of you is no different from the you in your world. Every insecurity, fear and shred of doubt was still a part of you and only by overcoming that fact could you see that there is no such thing as a fresh start, only new experiences that help you grow and with this experience you've learned to appreciate your home and found hope for your future! A future where you can experience a brand new adventure entirely your own and it will be your adventure and no one else's. In this world we were plopped into someone else's shoes, to pick up where they left off and finish what they couldn't but it wasn't our adventure…because it will always be his, "We have to head back."

"Where?"

"The underground shelter."

"What!? Why?"

"Because no matter how far we get into this story it will never be our adventure, it will always be Links. This is his story and it's high time he came back to it!"


	18. Chapter 18

"Wait…Link? I thought he was dead?" Alice said in surprise.

"That guy who was running the shelter is Link, he faked his death and worked on the shelter for three years." I explained.

"But…why did he just give up?"

"The same reason I almost did…this world is almost a wasteland of bodies and despair, but I have to convince him to complete his quest."

"Will he even listen?"

"If we don't convince him then this story can never be completed."

"But isn't that why we're here?"

"That's what I thought but this isn't our story. It's HIS story, we're not supposed to finish the story ourselves but we have to convince him to finish it."

"This seems crazy, I mean, why would we be here then if he's still alive?"

"I think we're just an outside influence that's here to get the hero back on track, sometimes someone needs a little push to get back on track."

"Even so how do we convince him to get back to fighting Gannon?" I pulled my left glove off to show here my Triforce symbol, it had only one triangle missing to complete it.

"With this. It shows that the Triforce is real and can defeat Gannon."

"It's incomplete though, there's no proof unless we get all of it." She had a point, without all the Triforce of Wisdom we had nothing to inspire him.

"Then we have to get that last piece as soon as possible. The longer we spend getting it the more forces Gannon can summon. Even with Link we can't fight an army, this isn't Hyrule Warriors." She gave a confused look at the game I mentioned, "The dynasty warrior looking Zelda game?"

"Do we have time for you to reference obscure games?" She obviously never heard of it.

"Really? You've never heard of Hyrule Warriors?"

"Soren!"

"Fine, fine. Let's hurry then." We gathered up our supplies and moved out of the graveyard towards the green forest. As we approached the forest the monsters started to become scarcer; seems getting rid of their monster creation system from yesterday made their numbers a little thin. We were able to move around easily as we didn't have to hide and any monsters we came across were easily dispatched of, we looked around trying to find the hidden dungeon. Every tree looked the same and we couldn't look around the base to see an opening. If a tree protected the entrance then that tree must be hollow or at least stick out in some way.

"Hey, this tree is blocking our way forward!" Or maybe it's much more obvious than I thought it would be in this world. I pulled out the lantern and set the tree on fire; it burned quickly and left a small metal door on the ground where it was. We opened the door and proceeded down the long stairway. As we descended I could feel my body become heavier meaning we were getting a lot deeper than the other dungeons, "hah…hah…it's getting a little…hard to breath." She was right, I could feel my breath shorten and my body becoming slower. It…was…really…hard to stay…con…cious. I to…ok a deep…breath recollecting my senses and kept heading down. We made it to a metal door after a few more feet of stairs and opened it to find the same set up all the dungeons have used before. I looked over at Alice to see she was staggering from a loss of breath, "This place is too deep underground, I can't breathe very well." She coughed and fell to the ground.

"Alice!" I helped her back up and watched her chest as it rose and fell very quickly. I pulled out the medical supplies and shuffled through them looking for something to help us…nothing, dammit! I looked over to see she was coughing profusely, the air was too thin underground…wait…shouldn't the air be thicker underground. Something else was causing this! I felt my air become thinner as well and…tried…taki..ng…a…deep…brea-.

When I regained consciousness I was in a locked room. As I looked around I was obviously still in the dungeon but in a locked off room. I felt around my body to find my utility belt and sword was missing. This was not good, I looked around to see Alice was missing as well. This was NOT good! I rushed towards the door to try to open it with my brute force. I pulled at the door trying to pull it open with no luck. I bashed at the door trying to break it but still having no luck. I stopped my attempt at the door and moved around the perimeter of the room hoping to find a weak spot in the stone. Still no luck…even if I found one I don't have a bomb to blow it out with. I didn't notice before but the floor was made of sand. I dug through the sand hoping to find something and felt the sand shift on its own suddenly. I looked behind me to see a manhandla towering over me. This situation was not going well for me; no weapon, no items, I had nothing to defend myself with. I dug through the ground hoping that some fallen adventurers equipment remained. As I searched the creature spun at me knocking me into the far wall. When I fell I dug through where I landed and found a cutlass sword and wooden shield, jackpot! I pulled them out and began to fight back. I moved quickly to cut off all of the heads and used the shield to block from his fireballs and head attack; I was able to make the shield last longer by batting the fireballs away keeping the shield from catching on fire. I dispatched of the creature as quick as I could and sat down giving a sigh of relief.

"How?" I turned around to see Lissa standing there looking at me in disbelief, "How do you keep surviving? Every time you've come close to death you pull out victory but how!?" She whipped her tail around and wrapped it around my neck lifting me up, "Even against him you got him to back down, HOW!?" She pulled me in and grabbed my face, "YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS MADE IT THIS FAR AND IT SHOULDN'T BE POSSIBLE, SO HOW!?" I felt her tail unwrap and her hands grip around my throat.

"Why do you care?" I asked choking out the words as she pushed on my windpipe.

"BECAUSE IF YOU WERE ABLE TO WHY COULDN'T I!?" I looked into her eyes and saw them well up with tears. She unclenched her hands and dropped me as she fell to the ground crying, "You were right. I'm not from this world, I used to live in my own world but then I was transported to a new world. When I got there I almost ended up dead but was saved by him." She must be talking about the cloaked man, "He promised me the strength to get home, and all I had to do is help him get other travelers like you on his side. Every time we did found a new recruit we would follow them to the world they're in and make the world a much more challenging place in order to show them their weakness."

"Wait, so this world is tougher than it's supposed to be?" She gave me a nod and looked back down. That's why this world is a hellish nightmare, their influence has made this world worse than it's supposed to be, "When did you alter this world?"

"A few weeks before Link began his journey, we influenced Gannon with some ideas to create powerful forces and he ran with it. If anything, before we entered Gannon was a tame villain." So they created this entire scenario, they made Link despair, they created this amount of death and violence.

"Why? Why would you do this?"

"To convince travelers to join him." Travelers?

"Who are the travelers?"

"You, the girl, basically anyone from another world are travelers. I don't know why he wants them but I've watched countless others fall under the extreme difficulty that was presented, from world to world I watched so many travelers follow him to become stronger…but you…you've been…resilient, you fought your way here without giving up, even against him you still stayed on your feet, why?" She thinks I made it on my own?

"Because of her."

"Her? Her? Her!? How did she get you here, whenever I look at her I can feel the weakness oozing off her, all of her fears, negative emotions and inadequacy! How did she get you here?"

"When I first got here I tried my hardest to get through here and for the first two dungeons I felt at least okay in how I was progressing but when I came across the graveyard I felt ready to give up but then I met her. She was confident in her goal to save this world and she helped me find the resolve to continue on."

"But when I first met you she had this air of inadequacy that reeked from outside the cave. You on the other hand had this confidence in what you were doing with a hint of fear." All succubus must be able to sense the emotional sense state of humans, "We continued to watch you both as you progressed and we always found you to be in a better state than her even when your emotional state deteriorated to someone else entirely you were still the stronger of the two of you. So how can she be the reason you stand here now?"

"You know, in all honesty I probably would have caved after that graveyard trip…but I'll let you in on a secret, when you take something on with someone else you become more courageous, you can take on a lot more because someone is there to take what you can't handle."

"You could have handled it, you're that resilient, and every time I looked at you I see some kind of will that I've never seen before nothing could stop you."

"Wrong!" She jumped as I yelled that, "When I snapped and lost myself she was the one that brought me back, without her I wouldn't even stand here to take on that creature, I wouldn't be here with the words to tell you how I got here and I sure as hell would have given in to your boss. She got me this far because we swore to stand by each other and as her partner I'm going to keep that promise!" I looked at her and saw she had my utility belt and mine and Alice's sword; as she sat there stunned I removed the swords and belt re equipping them and bombed the far wall remembering the layout of the dungeon. I looked back at Lissa to see she was sitting there just staring at me. Turned around and ran forward searching for my partner.

I moved through the dungeon taking out the enemies and searching every room. I found the magic book and stuffed it into my belt moving faster knowing that Alice was in trouble every second I was searching. When I found the lion key I moved much quicker avoiding battles and just moving through rooms looking for her. When I came to the boss room I saw the gleeok bearing down on an exhausted Alice. She was weaponless and panting.

"Alice!" She turned around and gave a wide grin seeing me as I threw her sword and bow at her. She caught them and I rushed next to her, "You know, I don't think we have ever taken this thing out as a team." Alice gave a smile.

"Then let's do it, together!" As she shot at the eyes off the beast I moved swiftly decapitating its heads a fast as I could. We made short work of the beast as it had the same movement and pattern as the others we had fought separately. It fell silently and I felt the white light cover me, I gave a sigh of relief knowing that neither of us were injured and looked back at Alice to see she had recovered and was only covered in mild bruises, "Let's hurry, Once we get out we have to grab Link and go after Gannon!" We moved into the next room. We touched the triforce piece and watched it vanish into my hands. What? This never happened before. I removed my glove to see the completed triforce and was confused why we weren't out of here. Suddenly I felt the ground shake and looked above me to see the ceiling start to crack. The dungeon was falling apart!

"Run!" I heard the female voice shout and kicked off grabbing Alice's hand as we sped backwards through the dungeon, "This wasn't supposed to happen!" We ducked and jumped over fallen debris as we moved as fast as we could, "He's interfering more than usual, he never messed with my magic!" The female voice continued to speak in my head as we ran obviously upset about something, we squeezed through half open doorways and moved as the dungeon continued to fall apart, "Keep running, you can't die here!" The voice was right about that, we couldn't die here, we had to get home! We made it back to the room I was trapped in to see Lissa sitting there still stunned.

"Lissa! We have to get out of here!" I shook her but she wouldn't respond.

"Soren! Leave her, we have to go now!" I couldn't leave her; I picked her up bridal style and followed behind Alice as we ran up the long stair way seeing it collapse in behind us catching up. We ran faster and jumped out as soon as we saw sunlight as the stairs turned into a pile of rubble. I set Lissa down and panted heavily exhausted from running for so long, "Why…did you save her." Alice asked as she caught her breath.

"I had to." I felt Lissa grab my collar, she gave me an angry look.

"WHY!? ALL I HAVE DONE IS CAUSE YOU TWO NOTHING BUT GRIEF AND TURMOIL AND YOU WANT TO SAVE ME, I WAS READY TO DIE! HOW CAN I GO ON KNOWING THAT WE CAN NEVER SWAY YOU! That's the whole reason I was there in the first place."

"You have to get home right?" I watched her eyes widen in surprise, "You can't give up, maybe you weren't able to get us but that doesn't give you cause to give up! We're fighting to get home and we won't give up because home means something to us! Don't give up because when you give up you're saying that your home isn't worth seeing ever again!" She released her grip and backed up, "Besides, I kind of owe you for our partnership, without you I wouldn't have been able to be as trustworthy as I am with her." She didn't respond, she just turned around in silence and walked away without saying a word.

"You're weird sometimes you know that?" Alice said looking confused at me.

"I like to think of it as just being smarter than you understand." She chuckled and flicked the back of my head as she walked past me.

"Come on, let's go get link." Right, we have to go and bring him to fight Gannon. It's almost time for the true hero and villain to face off.


	19. Chapter 19

We rushed to the shelter as fast as we could, taking any and all shortcuts. As we ran I looked around to notice there were no monsters anywhere we passed; the land was bare of any creatures. As we made it to the entrance we noticed the stone covering the passage was destroyed and there was a thin broken glass like veil where the barrier was. The shelter was being attacked! We rushed in and saw the horror of the attack playing out; there were people screaming, areas on fire, crops destroyed and monsters running amok.

"We have to stop them!" I pulled out my sword and charged at a group of monsters chasing after humans.

"Right!" We worked on destroying any monsters we could find and protected the humans that we could fine. We were able to set up a safe space at the clinical area and sent everyone we saved that way. When we got every human we could save we scoured the group for Link, "He's not here."

"He must still be at his tent!" Alice and I ran towards the residential area to see two tent areas were still standing, Lin's giant tent and the Gerudo tent area. The Gerudo's were being attacked by a large hoard of monsters as they fought back with what little weaponry they had. We moved to assist them and destroyed the group of creatures, "Are you girls okay?" As I asked that they pointed a spear at my throat.

"Don't get high and mighty boy, I thank you for your assistance but that doesn't mean I will trust you!"

"I don't expect you to; I just asked if everyone was alright." I replied nervously. Alice grabbed the spear tossing it aside.

"Hey, leave him alone! He just saved your ass!" The Gerudo woman looked at Alice in disbelief and then recollected herself.

"Whether or not we were saved is debatable but we don't trust ANY man who approaches our race! As a prominent race of females we only use men for one reason and that's procreating! They are a useless gender that has no need in our society!"

"What about Ganondorf?" I felt her slap me in the face sending me reeling to the floor.

"No one speaks the name of that betrayer! He single handedly ruined how people view us as a race of dessert dwellers. People now see us as thieves and bandits who will murder and kill without mercy. That man has single handedly destroyed how our culture and by taking over Hyrule he destroyed our credibility!" Alice helped me back up as she continued to yell at me, "Now leave! I thanked you for your help; just leave us to our business!" She turned around and sauntered back to her group. We moved on towards Links tent. As we approached the tent we saw it was surrounded by darknuts. In the center of them was Link holding his own; we jumped in and worked on dispatching the group of monsters. After the fight we sat down exhausted as Link caught himself sheathing his sword.

"Why did you two come back here?" Link asked helping us back on our feet.

"We came to get you." I replied confusing him.

"Me? Why?"

"Because of this." I showed him the Triforce of wisdom on the back of my left hand and he gave a gasp of shock.

"You have it!? That's amazing, you have to go fight Gannon and end this!"

"No. You have to." He looked at me in surprise and I focused my mind to eject the Triforce from my body. When I opened my eyes I saw the golden triangle floating in my hand and reached out offering it to him.

"No, I've spent the past three years held up here, I can't fight Gannon."

"You can, look, you had the ability to create this place and keep it running for this long. You have the ability to make others rally behind you and put their safety in your hands."

"But even so." We looked over to see Alice had cut in, "You know that they want to go home and the only way to do that is to take out Gannon and we can't do it alone, Gannon has most likely built up an army to protect his hideout."

"So you want me to get these people to risk their life in a fight against monsters that could result in their death? No way, I swore to protect those people and I won't do that to them!"

"And you think them staying here isn't killing them!" Alice yelled, "They want to go home! They want to see their Hyrule again and every moment they spend down here only makes their suffering worse! If you really care about them, you'll give them the chance to fight for their world." Everyone went silent and I felt Link snatch the Triforce from my hand.

"She's right, I can't let this continue, if they still care about the land above then I'll give them the chance to fight for it! Meet with me at the entrance to the shelter in an hour!" He rushed off to most likely grab the other humans…but that wasn't going to be enough people, not a lot of people survived the attack. Although one group of people survived in entirety.

"Alice we have to go to the gerudos."

"Why?"

"We need to convince them to help us."

"They won't listen to us though."

"Not me, but maybe you."

"I don't like this plan already."

 **Alice**

I approached the gerudos tent area and we greeted by two women who were obviously guarding the place from outsiders.

"What business do you have here Hylian!?" She shouted at me.

"First off, I'm not a hylian, I'm a…a traveler." I said hastily. That's how that succubus described us and it made me seem less…hostile to their culture, " I'm open to all forms of religion and custom but that's not why I'm here."

"Then why are you here?"

"I'm here to speak with your leader about the upcoming battle." The two guards whispered to each other and looked back at me occasionally until they stepped aside.

"Our commander is in the far tent at the end. Please keep walking and do not disturb our people." I walked past them and headed for the tent at the end. As I walked I looked to see women look at me with glares of mistrust and some eyed me up and down observing me. I gripped my skirt hoping that this all women tribe wasn't a swinger society. I walked faster and kept my head down embarrassed by their stares and eventually made it to the commanders' tent to see her sitting there on a pillow with her legs crossed.

"Please, sit down." I sat down on my legs and she pushed a cup of tea over to me. We both took a sip and she looked at me with a smile, "So I hear you're a traveler here to talk about an upcoming war?"

"Yes, the hylian leader is going to launch an all-out attack against Gannon and we would appreciate your aid in this battle."

"Interesting, the more pressing question on my mind right now is, why do you care?" Crap, think Alice think!

"Well if I'm going to learn about a culture than it's better to get an idea of the topography rather than just a culture."

"You're a terrible liar sweetie." I felt goosebumps run along my back as she said that.

"Look does it really matter, all I'm here to do right now is get you to help us in the fight against Gannon!"

"Feisty, I like that." This was becoming very uncomfortable.

"Look, are you willing to help us fight against Gannon?" I asked hoping to end this as soon as possible.

"I don't think so; we'd rather wait here for the rest of you to die." I smiled as she said that, "Why should we rely on hylians who can barely fight?" I had to convince her to help, without them everyone will die. Me, Link, the hylians…Soren.

"Isn't this your home?!" I slammed on the table knocking over our tea, "You want your home and cultural land to just be lost forever? You're just going to let Gannon destroy your land like he did your credibility?" It went silent and she pulled out a curved blade and swung it at me. I pulled out my blade blocking the blow and back stepped. She pulled out another blade in her other hand and swung both at me. Even blocking the force was too powerful and sent me flying backwards out of the tent. She jumped on top of me pinning me down on the floor straddling my face.

"You think you stand a chance against him? If you can't even beat me then how do you hope to defeat that demon of a man?" I moved my legs tripping her left knee sending her of balance to the point I could push her off.

"Maybe not on my own but with others we can win anything!" She stood up laughing and held out her blades.

"Then show me how much you can help your others. After all if you're no help then what use are you to this war?" She rushed at me and I blocked her first blade as she swung her second one at my opening making me back up. She was very skilled with two blades which meant fighting her head on was a bad idea. I pulled out my bow and began to shoot at her in a rapid manner; I aimed at any open area as she blocked what she could; I either had to hit her with an arrow or somehow knock a sword out of her hand to improve my odds. I aimed for her face and watched as she used both sword to block and quickly re-aimed at her hand hitting it and causing her to drop her right sword, "Clever but…" She maneuvered her left handed blade around in a fancy manner, "I'm ambidextrous." Whether she was ambidextrous or not didn't matter, after all, Soren was left handed so I had an idea of how she would maneuver to attack. We clashed blades over and over again trying to get an opening at each other but to no avail. She moved quickly to block every attack and swung with enough grace to recover and block my counter attack. I had to switch up my fighting style; I moved my blade letting the momentum move my body. Every block she made would bounce my blade and send it back at her faster and faster each time. Eventually my retaliations were much faster making it very difficult for her to block, she didn't even have room to counter attack. I could see the sweat on her brow as she became tired; I continued and watched for an opening I could exploit. I saw her blade drop for a moment in exhaustion and kicked her in the chest causing her to fall to the ground. Before she got up I brought the blade to her neck making her stop.

"Give up?" She gave a hearty laugh and I looked around me to see other gerudos close in on me.

"Maybe you can beat me but you can't beat all of us can you?" Crap! There were too many of them for me to take alone, how could I convince them if I can't win against them?

"Alice, hang on!" I looked over to see Soren rushing at my position, thank god! He jumped in and stood next to me with his sword in one hand and the wand in the other, "Sorry but it looked like you could use some help."

"This was your idea! I felt like a piece of meat as some of them stared at me." It gave me goosebumps to think about.

"Sorry, you ready?" When did it look like I wasn't?

"Let's go!" Soren casted a magic ring of fire around us, which was new; I pulled out my bow and began to shoot at the gerudos as they backed up from the ring. I looked over to see Soren was shooting off magic bullets knocking them out; he was getting a lot better with that wand, "Mind explaining how you got so skilled with that thing?" He held out a book and gave a cocky smile.

"Book of magic, has a lot of cool spells, watch this." He grabbed my hand, pulled me closer and held up the wand waving it making a Z pattern, "Sleep!" I watched a cloud of purple smoke emenate from the wand and cover the area except for me, Soren and the greudo leader, "Pretty neat huh?" He loved being a showoff sometimes didn't he? I punched him playfully in the arm and laughed.

"How did you learn those spells?" He opened the book and skimmed through pages displaying different spells and techniques for using the wand.

"This book helped me learn how to channel the magic better so I don't burn myself out using rough uncontrollable magic." This is what he was doing while I was in there? No wonder it took him a while to help!

"Jerk!" I stomped on his foot in anger. He could have helped me much sooner than that and he didn't! I moved over to the gerudo leader and helped her up. She looked at us with a scowl and then gave a wide grin.

"You really are strong aren't you?" She looked over to see Soren holding his foot in pain, "And your distaste for the male gender is clear."

"No, I just hurt him for his stupidity." I said bluntly and she gave a laugh.

"Well no matter the case you have shown your strength." She reached her hand out and I grabbed it giving a shake in solidarity, "We will join you in the final fight against Gannon's army." She let go and walked back towards her tent. As she walked I felt her slap my butt before she walked away.

"What was that about?" Soren asked clueless about the whole thing.

"Let's just get out of here." I said grabbing Soren and walking out of the area rubbing my butt where she slapped embarrassed.

 **Soren**

We walked back to the entrance to see Link standing there waiting for us. We waved and walked over to him.

"Where you able to convince everyone?" I asked wondering how big an army we would have.

"Everyone agreed to be a part of this final confrontation!" Link said excited, "They all want to try to get their land back, you were right Asuna, they all want their home back." We looked over at Alice to see she was still focused on where she was slapped, "Asuna?" She jumped in surprise and looked at Link with a blush on her face.

"Oh, yeah, we were also able to convince the gerudos to join in the fight."

"Really? Thanks, in all honesty the only reason they were here is because they had no where they could go that was safe, even if they stayed here they still didn't trust anyone." Well that explains why they were even here, Link really does have a big heart, "Anyway I sent out a scout to survey where Gannon is hidden so he should be back in a few hours. Everyone is getting rest so we can be ready in the morning, you should do the same." He guided us to our tent and left us to get some rest.

We set up our sleeping bags and I looked over at Alice to see she was looking at the tent flap.

"You okay?" She looked over at me surprised and took a deep breath.

"It's just weird to think that tomorrow this all ends. We may not have spent so long in this world but I feel like I've grown as a person more than I ever did in my world, and it's all because I met you." She gave me a soft smile, "It's sad to think that after this we'll never see each other again."

"You don't know that, maybe we will meet again." I said trying to stay hopeful.

"You realize that there is a one in a million chance of that happening, even if we're from the same world there's no guarantee we even live in the same state."

"State? So you live in the united states?"

"Soren stop, let's just enjoy what time we have left and just talk about something else." I thought for a moment of what to talk about and came up with something.

"So what happened with that gerudo slapping your ass?" I felt her hand slap me across the face sending me to the ground. When I looked over she had a deep red blush of embarrassment on her face.

"Nevermind, good night!" She rolled over and went silent; I crawled into my sleeping bag and closed my eyes rubbing the handprint on my face. Did I say something wrong?


	20. Chapter 20

The morning came around quicker than expected and we moved to prepare ourselves for the upcoming battle. As we finished our preparations Link entered our tent and rolled out a map.

"This is where Gannon's hideout is." He pointed to the upper mountain area of Death Mountain, specifically at an area that had an out cropping of two mountain peaks, "If we bomb here then the entrance will open up but getting there is the problem." he pointed to the closest spot we could come out in, "This area to that cropping is covered head to toe in Gannon's army."

"Makes sense." Alice added in, "This area is closest to his stronghold so he beefed up the security to get there."

"What about here?" I pointed to the entrance near the lake, "If we exit here we go through the forest and cross the river near Death Mountain here and enter from the back."

"We can't move an entire army that far and the trip across the river would take hours with the back and forth trips." I thought for a minute of how to do this. Knowing the enemy he probably stationed wizards to resurrect his army so we can never get into his stronghold. He only has to wear us out and keep us from getting to him. This was tough…maybe we could do that.

"How about we send the army out the front entrance here and send a smaller band of people around the back." I explained.

"Are you crazy!? What about the main force?" Link asked.

"Look, Gannon is trying to waste our time and keep us from him by doing this fight. We can't stay with the main force and fight with them because it will waste time and energy trying to get there with the main force. We have to face the fact that we can't go in there with an army, but maybe we could get a handful of skilled and powerful people inside to take out Gannon." It went silent and Link took a deep breath.

"Okay, but we're going to need someone to lead the army if I'm headed in there to take out Gannon."

"How about the Gerudo leader?" Alice said, "She has experience leading people and can be a powerful ally in battle, she can lead the main force while Link and two others take on the main hideout.

"Then who will go into the stronghold with Link?" I asked. Link chuckled and we looked over surprised.

"I think it's pretty obvious don't you two?"

We moved quickly underground to get to the lake entrance. Alice made sure to leave the Gerudo commander in charge and we made sure the makeshift army was as equipped as we could make them. As we ran I looked at the blade on Link's back curiously.

"Hey where did you get that sword?" I asked Link as we ran.

"In the Graveyard, it's powerful enough to protect myself so I've been using it to keep myself and the shelter safe."

"Now you're using it on the offensive, how does it feel?" Alice asked.

"It…feels weird, but I have to if I want to succeed." Link said heroically. I looked over at Alice to see her roll her eyes. It was kind of cheesy. We made it to the entrance and exited into the sunlight…dark clouds? The sky was covered in thunder clouds and lightning was flashing across the sky, it was weird to see after the past few days being clear as glass, "Let's hurry." We ran through the forest and towards the death mountain river. When we came to the river we rode across it on the raft and continued towards the entrance. When we came to the mountain it was surrounded by dozens of darknuts. We rushed at them slicing them down and destroyed the rock covering to reveal the entrance to Gannon's lair. Before we entered I looked behind us to see the Darknuts had re-formed; there must have been a wizard standing by to bring them back.

"Looks like they want a second helping!" Before we began to fight I looked behind us to see the entrance was closing up. Gannon doubled up on his security.

"We can't fight them forever, we have to get through and I don't have a lot of bombs to do so." Alice turned around and pushed me and Link inside as it closed, "Alice!"

"Don't worry, I'll catch up!" I tossed a bomb at her which she caught and the entrance sealed up. I turned to Link and we proceeded down into the final dungeon.

When we got down we rushed forward through the dungeon. We eventually came to a crossroad after a flight of stairs and spilt up. I took the north door while Link headed through the west door; I dispatched of the monsters and ran into the next room to find myself in a dead end. I turned around to see the cloaked man standing there blocking the door way. Why was he here? I rushed at him with my sword forward and he outstretched his hand sending my flying into the far wall. How did he do that?

"Psynergy is quite a useful skill to have." Psynergy? That's from Golden Sun, where hadn't he been?

"Why the hell do you keep following me?" I asked standing back up.

"You think I'll give up just because you say no, I can't let you pass up now, you've shown too much promise to just leave as you are." He spoke like I knew what he meant and I was too lost to follow his logic. All I know is that he's recruiting travelers by showing their weakness to them and exploiting that, "You brought a lost mind back to reason, defeated every enhanced creature in this world, stopped the production being done in the graveyard and even survived the collapsing dungeon. That is more strength than I expected you to show, I came close to exploiting our weakness last time but somehow failed and this time I don't plan to fail." I scoffed.

"You already have! I will never join you twisted plans! You caused all this unnecessary pain for so many just to catch us and I can't forgive that!" I pulled out my wand and shot a bullet of magic at him. It was fast enough that he had no time to dodge, "I saw the sadness that your plans cause when I saw Lissa cry, you exploit their emotional state for your own goal and treat them as pieces to some sick twisted game that just results in more problems than the solutions you offer!" I continued to shoot bullets at him as he stood there taking my magical attack without even moving, "I will never join you and I will protect Alice from you!" When the smoke cleared he stood there unmarked from my attack. That's impossible!

"Fine, maybe I can't convince you now but soon you will join me and I will make sure of that." He pulled out his master sword and rushed at me. I blocked his attack and pushed his blade back making him stagger a bit, "There is another in your head who I can exploit! He is the key to this conundrum!" Another? That thing that took me over before? I blocked his relentless slashes feeling him back me into the wall, "I can bring him out if I can just destroy your mind! You are coming with me!" He reached out his hand and gripped my collar.

"Over my dead body!" I bit his hand causing him to drop me and slashed at his stomach. I watched as his stomach bled profusely and he backed up panting in pain.

"You…brat…this…is not…over." He backed up and disappeared in a flash. What did he mean by that? No time to think about that, I have to hurry! I ran out of the room and after Link as I headed down the west door he took.

 **Alice**

The rain hit my hot, exhausted face as the Darnuts kept reforming. This was starting to get annoying, no matter how many times I put them down they keep coming back up and that wizard won't show himself! I looked around and something caught my eye; it was a shimmering figure. I shot an arrow at it and it fell over dead; it was revealed to be the wizard which meant I could finally kill these things. I made quick work of them as I cut them apart leaving nothing behind. Giving a huff of relief I bombed the entrance to the dungeon and rushed in after Soren and Link. I ran as fast as I could through the west door way seeing Soren run through it. When I got through I followed him further in as he kept running away from me. Eventually we came to a dead ended room and he stopped as I caught my breath. He could really run.

"How do you help him?" Soren said which surprised me. When I looked at him he had a devil tail. It was the succubus! I unsheathed my sword and pointed it at her as she revealed her true form, "He said you help him but you're weak." She approached me and I backed up to keep my distance from her attack, "Even that quality of bravery you exert is from his influence." She just kept walking towards me, "So how do you make him strong!" She shot her tail at me and I maneuvered around it and stuck at her shoulder, "Tell me." She slumped to the ground confusing me, "How did he get through this hellish trial." She looked up at me crying, "Was it the location, the enemy, the people; how could he get this far without giving in when I couldn't!?" I sheathed my sword.

"He didn't do it alone." She looked up at me confused, "I've been with Soren through most of this and he's not perfect, he's arrogant, airheaded and not that strong…but he made it this far because he wasn't alone. It's the same reason I made it this far." He's the only reason I even want to go home, "We relied on each other to get us to this point, as partners we agreed to trust each other with our lives and our problems." Hearing his story and seeing his resolve to keep going showed me what his world was worth to him, "He had just as many problems as anyone, maybe even more than average for some but he didn't have to do everything himself." He cares about the people from his world, his friends and his mother are the reason he keeps going, "The world is a tough place when you take it on alone but with others it becomes easier to handle." For me…I want to see the world I love and meet people like Soren; to do that I have to get home and see it with my own eyes. With that hope I can wait forever, "He's strong now because of me and I'm stronger because of him and when this is over I will hold this strength forever."

"Why?" She asked.

"Because there is no difference between the me of this world and the me in my world." I watched as she put her head down slowly and sat there limp.

"Is that really true?" She said that and disappeared in a flash leaving me in an empty room. It's the truth and I will never believe otherwise. I ran out of there and headed for the boss room; I made a small detour and grabbed the silver arrow. There was only one arrow, but that was all we needed to beat Gannon! I rushed and made it to the room before Gannon to see Soren and Link standing there.

 **Soren**

I looked over to see Alice approach us with the silver arrow in hand. Somehow I knew there would only be one arrow, seems the thing to happen. We looked at the doorway to Gannon taking in the hostile atmosphere knowing this would not be an easy fight.

"Let's do this." Link moved first as we followed behind ready for the final boss of this world. When we entered the room it was pitch black but this was a different type of darkness that the lantern couldn't cut through. Link held up the Triforce of Wisdom bringing light to the room and revealing the evil wizard Gannon. He truly looked like a pig and was a behemoth of a creature towering over us.

He swung at us with his arm as we rolled out of his proximity and Link shot a beam of magic at him. He repelled the beam and shot his own magic at us as we dodged. Seems magic won't work against him. I pulled out my sword and swung at him hitting him and causing him to bleed. As his blood spilt I felt it burn its way through my boots and coat as I backed up.

"His blood is acidic, don't touch it!" I warned causing Link and Alice to stop their initial motion. I backed up and pulled out my bombs throwing them at Gannon, when they hit him they exploded but once the smoke cleared he stood there without a burn mark on him. He was impervious to bombs to!?

"Seems like sword are the only thing that can harm him." Alice pointed out; she was right though, we had to strike him with metal but could get burned in the process. So be it.

"Alice, stay back and keep your bow ready with that silver arrow! Link keep hitting him with those magical attacks!" They both nodded trusting my plan. I watched as Link struck him magical attacks and he blocked them with his arm. I rushed up and sliced at his arm with as much power as I could and hacked it off his body. The spatter of blood hit me singeing part of my clothing and skin but I brushed it off and sliced through his other arm leaving him no defense against Link's magic attacks. I backed up feeling my skin burn from the second blood spray and looked at myself to see most of my clothing was singed and patchy and my skin was red and swollen. I looked up to see Gannon fall over in pain and pass out, "Alice, now!" She pulled the string back and shot at Gannon's head making him shriek in pain and suddenly stop. We watched as his body turned gray and fall apart into ash piece by piece till all that was left was a pile of ash and the Triforce of Power. It was finally over.

I fell over still feeling the blood singeing me. Alice rushed over and grabbed me putting my head in her lap.

"You idiot! That blood was highly acidic what were you thinking!?" She spoke so fast looking over me with a worried expression.

"I thought: he must use his arms as a guard because his main body was vulnerable and I was right." I gave her a smile and she laughed.

"You took all the damage though, now you're badly hurt."

"We're near the end though so I thought I might as well."

"Don't be so stupid in the future okay?

"Okay." We stood up and she carried me as we moved into the next room after Link grabbed the Triforce of Power. There sat princess Zelda behind the flames; Link held up the Triforce and the flames died in the light of the golden power. She looked at us and then at Link with a gentle smile.

"I knew you would come for me eventually Link." She said standing up.

"Sorry it took me three years." Link replied sheepishly. She gave a giggle, "If you want to thank anyone, thank those two." He pointed over at us, "They're the main reason I'm even hear to see you know." She approached both of us and held out her hand. I looked at my hand to see it glow a bright white light; I was almost blinded by the intensity of it.

"You fought long and hard to make it this far, this light shows that, every major fight you have had was proof you became stronger and I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for fighting as hard as you did." She bowed to us making me blush. I've never been thanked by a princess before, "Come Link, let's go console the people and bring our land back to prosperity." As they walked away Link turned around to us.

"You guys coming?" We sat down giving a long sigh of relief, our job was over.

"No, we have to go somewhere else now, besides this is your land, you don't need us." He gave us a smile and outstretched his hand.

"Thank you for all your help, wherever you two go just know that I will never forget what you did for this land." I grabbed his hand and gave it a firm shake.

"May we meet again." He walked away after that leaving us in that end room. It was silent for a few minutes as we waited for whatever was going to happen to us.

"So it's over now." Alice said breaking the silence, "It seems weird to think I'm excited to get home and see my world again even knowing that I'm going home to a hospital bed." She laughed.

"You won't be there forever though right?"

"Right." I watched as a new type of light surrounded Alice and looked at myself to see the same happening.

"This is it, we're going home now." I felt excited to see my world again, I haven't been gone long but it felt nostalgic to think about after the adventure I've had, "Tell me, where do you live?"

"I thought I told you-"

"I know I know, but I want to believe in that one in a million chance that we'll meet again. Don't you." She bit her lip for a moment and then looked at me.

"I live in Aurora Colorado." I gave a surprised look and watched as my vision turned white and heard that female voice again.

"Thank You so much."

I woke up and stretched my body feeling stiff from my long sleep. I opened my eyes to see I was back in my room with my 3ds sitting next to me open but off. I was home that much was true but that didn't matter right now. I jumped out of bed and got dressed as fast as I could putting on my jacket and fingerless gloves and rushed out the door ignoring the shout of my name coming from my sister's room. I ran as fast as I could till I hit my old game store and entered it scanning through the old gaming consoles till I spotted it, the NES.

 **Alice**

I woke up and gave a loud yawn from the long sleep. I looked around to see I was back in my hospital room sitting in my bed with my 3ds on the bed open but off. I looked out my window to see it was morning and gave a long sigh. Why did I tell him that? There's no way he could be here, it was impossible. I laid my head back down and closed my head remembering the adventure I just had. It was dangerous, emotionally and physically damaging, full of monsters and death; but I wouldn't have given it up for anything. This world is my home and I want to see it all one day, without that adventure I wouldn't have realized that; without him I wouldn't have realized that. Suddenly I heard a knock at my door and looked over to see someone turn the knob. The door opened and someone came in…! I couldn't believe it. He was standing there holding a NES and giving me a wide grin, he was dressed slightly differently but I remembered that face…it was Soren.

"I guess both one in a million chance worked in our favor huh?" He said extending out the NES, I felt myself begin to cry. I was glad it worked out because…I wanted to see him again.

 **Soren**

She sat there with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes as she looked at me. Her hair was disheveled and messy and her skin was pale from what I guessed was sitting there for ten years…but it was her and I had no doubt in my mind. I was glad it worked out because…I really wanted to see her again. I approached her and she pulled me into a hug continuing to cry. I returned the hug with a feeling I've never had before. I felt accepted, there was nothing I could hide from her and I was okay with that, I found someone who would accept me, problems and all. This wasn't a friend who I felt I had to protect but one who I would fight the problems next to. A true partner I could trust completely. It didn't matter that we were back in this world because as far as I was concerned about our bond there was no difference between that world and this one.


	21. Chapter 21

**This chapter takes place throughout the story from Lissa's point of view.**

I sat there in disbelief as Soren and Asuna walked away from me…Soren had saved me but I couldn't even fathom why; when I first met them I was playing an innocent scared villager who was trying to find the entrance to the secret base they established, I didn't know that I would run into two new travelers on my way.

A few days earlier I had heard from the boss that we were heading to Hyrule because his plan had worked; I couldn't remember why but the boss had been causing trouble in Hyrule to lure a traveler there but apparently whoever sends them had sent two this time and he was very happy about this…at least at first. When he came back from trying to recruit them he seemed to have a grimace on his face; when we asked what was wrong he laughed strangely and went into his study, he didn't come out for a few hours and in that time I looked over the recordings we had on those two. When the boss goes out to recruit people he always takes a recording of the time so we can look back and make sure we do better next time…I don't know why though…every time we go out to recruit travelers our plans work flawlessly and don't need to be revised. I guess this time it was different for some reason; I looked over the footage and watched the battle they had against the three headed beast and everything looked like it was going well, the girl was losing her mind and acting irrational while the boy was knocked out behind her, his head was bleeding which meant he would be out for a while. I looked back and the girl was standing back wounded as the creature started charging up a blast of fire; the boss began to walk forward ready to save her with his demonstration his power and show her what she can gain by joining. Even if I fell for this tactic I still found it to convince me of my own weakness and let me join him to become stronger…it's the only way to get him back…what just happened!?

Looking back at the screen the boss was watching as the boy had gotten up and blocked the fire blast to the girl by himself…without the bosses help. He looked back at the girl with a smile on his face as he collapsed in her arms; the girl stood up with a fire in her eyes and defeated the beast with a bow and blade by herself…these two actually overcame this challenge without the boss helping. As the girl dragged the boy to the triforce the bosses video feed cut out there.

"…they defeated the creature the boss said would be their downfall…were they stronger than he expected…no! He just needs to rethink…no one is better than anyone else and the boss stands above everyone. That rule is absolute. After all, that's why I'm here to begin with." Shaking my thoughts aside I decided to head to bed to prepare for the next day.

The next day I woke up to an announcement that the boss wanted me to meet with him for some reason; I headed over and met up with him ready for whatever he needed, I owed him my current strength anyway.

"Lissa…do you remember the two travelers from Hyrule I ran into." He asked tapping his fingers with a sense of excitement.

"Yes…I looked over the files from yesterday and that was a fluke that the boy was able to stand back up and protect the female." I answered and he looked me in the eye with a smile.

"No dear…that wasn't a fluke; that was something I haven't seen in a while…did you notice the girls eyes when the boy fell." When the boy fell…

"There was a revitalization of determination in her eyes that seemed to just pop into her."

"No…that was a transfer of spirit. As he rushed to protect her I could see the fire in his eyes as he sacrificed himself for her, through that act of defense he was able to bring the girl back from the brink of her mind and she was able to take out the monster. He established trust between them…and that cannot be." What?

"What do you mean sir?"

"Trust makes it harder to break the mind and have them join us. With a bond they have a stronger resolve making them harder to break apart…that's why I need you."

"What did you need sir?"

I sat in the cave with my disguise well put together; my hair was now a dark brown and my clothes were tattered showing some skin but covering up the necessary part…it made me feel a little sexy…what…is that…the succubus? When I became a part of the bosses group he gave me a power that enhanced me and made me stronger…the one I got was the powers of a succubus; with it I could enhance my charm and make men fall under my spell with my sexual charm. This is the first time I've actually been able to feel it my power and…it felt warm…no, focus Lissa! Pushing my…naughtier thoughts aside I watched as the wall in front of me was bombed and the two travelers entered and looked at me surprised; putting my charm to the test I convinced…'Soren' to take me to the secret shelter and 'Asuna' just gave me the evil eye as we traveled with Soren carrying me…these succubus powers would come in handy.

Eventually we came to the secret entrance and I turned on the video recorder. The boss had asked me to find the secret village and report it back to Gannon to crush it to the ground; with the village destroyed these two would lose any hope of winning and then the boss could swoop in and bring them over to our side…but how were these two be a problem in the first place? From what I can see the female is emotionally distant making her a prime candidate for recruitment while the male seems to be a bit too trustworthy with people…easy enough to crush into dust! Once we made it to the village the girl took me to the clinic I worked my new found charm and got the doctors to leave me alone as I fixed up my feet leaving no trace of the damage; the girl came back in and we sat for a minute until the cloaked guy we met who led us here and he and the girl argued over the possession of her weapon and once she gave up the man left. A few minutes later the boy Soren walked in and he and the girl began to argue until the girl stormed out leaving me and Soren alone…perfect! Looks like tensions just snapped and we won!

Later we learned that she left the village leaving Soren very emotionally torn; he really cared about her and I'm guessing this was a heavy blow to him, this might be a chance to try something on him. Later when everyone had fallen asleep I decided to move in and try my powers of seduction on this weakened mind…and it worked; he was immobilized and powerless under me as I moved in for the kill, one kiss and it was my game to play…this was the power I was given and this will be my first slave. As I moved in I heard the tent flap open and felt something collide with my face sending me flying to the side; who did that!? I sat up and saw that girl there helping the boy up, she saw through my ruse!

As I gave them a cockamamie story about my affiliation with Gannon I felt the lies roll naturally off my tongue as I spoke, it felt like it was natural for me to lie but I had never made a story this coherently before…this succubus power was intoxicating and overpowering…wait, was I even in control anymore? I tried to stop myself but the only thing that seemed to be in my control was my own thought. This power had its own consciousness that had taken over…I wasn't me anymore.

Moments past through as I sat there out of control as this…thing took my body for a joyride to do as they please…but it still listened to the boss which made me wonder why he gave me this power…was it because he wanted this? Why did he do this…what was happening!? Why…maybe it's better if I just give up for now…no one can save me…my body won't be my own any time soon.

Time passed in a blur as things happened out of my control but then that boy and girl showed up; but the boy was different now, he looked deranged and crazy…as though something was controlling him! He passed through the room and the girl came into the room; my body descended down and began to toy with the girl, keeping her out of range of the boy as he seemed to be making a deal with the boss…that's what we wanted right? I don't know anymore…if he wanted us to get stronger than why is this happening to me…maybe this isn't right. Suddenly my body stepped to the side as the girl…Asuna, ran through after…Soren; when she approached him he attacked but she put up no fight and he continued to retaliate until he was choking her. Then everything stopped…he let go of her and she hugged him…he came back…but that should be impossible. The boss disappeared as I stood in disbelief.

"What the hell!?" they turned their attention to me as I screamed…I screamed? What was happening, ""You should be enraged, and you should be dead! What happened to that emotional level of rage and desire is gone! There's not even a trace of it! How is this possible!?"

"What are you gaining out of this?" He asked that question suddenly and I felt myself freeze, "You obviously don't care about what Gannon wants or we would be dead and if you wanted the emotional level I had you would have taken it. Obviously you're working with that man but what are you gaining out of this?" I felt my anxiety rise as he put pieces together, ""Wait, if you're not from here like us…are you from another world to?" I shrunk back…he knew I was an outsider…then he would know what I want, ", "You're working with him to get home aren't you?" …home? Do I want to go back…what is there to go back to, why would I…why wouldn't I? I felt my control fade away as my body slinked into the shadows and left the area without detection…what do I want? That was simple…I want bring him back to me…but am I even me anymore?

It was the final stand at the eight dungeon and I felt a sense of anxiety come off the presence as they approached; they were quickly put to sleep and separated as we took Soren to his inevitable end. When he woke up he faced the four headed creature…and won! His weapons and tools were gone but he stayed resourceful and took out the creature…why, why was he able to do this!?

"IF YOU WERE ABLE TO WHY COULDN'T I!?" My senses came back as I said that and…I cried, in that moment I realized I was weak…I let the boss consume me and I let the power of the succubus completely control me…no matter how strong I thought I was I was weak. I told Soren everything I know and he believed it; those eyes told me he believed every word I said and didn't take any doubt into occasion…who was this kid? Why was he so much stronger than me?

"I'll let you in on a secret, when you take something on with someone else you become more courageous, you can take on a lot more because someone is there to take what you can't handle." What you can't handle…he was strong because he could rely on someone else? (I refuse to believe that girl is his strength!) I felt my grip slip again as the power took over again; she wasn't satisfied yet.

When we came upon Asuna the succubus led her to a room and began to barrage her with questions, she seemed to ask the same questions I did but her spirit seemed damaged and broken from these encounters the succubus was starting to break apart…and yet I was still stuck, how did he break free, why was he able to keep his mind?

"He didn't do it alone." Asuna said confidently at me, "We relied on each other to get us to this point, as partners we agreed to trust each other with our lives and our problems." Trust…made them strong, "He's strong now because of me and I'm stronger because of him and when this is over I will hold this strength forever." When it is over you will go back to your world, how can you stay strong?

"Why?" I asked as my voice broke through.

"Because there is no difference between the me of this world and the me in my world." No…difference; that means that no matter how far I go…I can never escape my past? I couldn't feel the succubus fighting for control, we both sat their limp as Asuna passed by us heading towards her partner and her strength.

A week passed by and now the boss is obsessed with Soren's other self while my succubus power seems to be unreachable… the consciousness still exists and it speaks to me now but that was it; the only thing I could summon was the wings and tail but nothing else was usable to me. I looked around me at the different travelers we recruited and from the time we recruited them to now something in there eyes seemed different; as though a power had overtaken them…! I looked at them and all I could think about was him…would he be disappointed with what I've done…how I've given up…the fire in my eyes died long ago with him and now I stand here as a broken tool, whatever was intended to control me is silent and I stand in a sea of brainwashed travelers…and it's all my fault…the fire he loved in people so much has snuffed multiple times because of me…everyone…except those two…(Those two…)


	22. Lunch Break

**Short story takin place after Soren and Alice returned to earth. Light and not very serious story about Soren and Alice spending time together one day.**

Alice and I had spent a few hours playing some of the newer games that she had been able to get her hands on; it was amazing how many games she had and her system count was amazing as well, most of it was Nintendo but I was fine with that. She had a few of the Wiiu games that had recently come out such as Smash Brothers, Mario Maker, Splatoon, Super Mario 3D world, even Kirby and the Rainbow Curse; not surprising though was that she didn't have Hyrule Warriors.

"So you really don't have Hyrule Warriors."

"I was a warrior and I was in Hyrule, that's as close as I got and I'm find with that." Alice replied flipping through her issue of Game Informer as she rolled her eyes at me; I turned to the other boxes of games she had which ranged from old PS one titles to Xbox One games.

"How do you get all these games and systems? Are your parents secretly super heroes who get cash as a gift for saving the world?"

"Yep, remember that duo super hero group that saved the world from a volcano? It was on the news last night? It was crazy." She said giving me a sly smile.

"Very funny, seriously though I have to save up my allowance for a month to be able to afford one game."

"Allowance? Don't have a job mister hero?"

"No one wants to hire a teen; they all want full time employees."

"Too bad mister lazy."

"Yeah, speaking of how is your job sitting on your but all day?"

"Fair enough." We laughed for a bit and then I heard the door open and there stood two adults; they both wore full suits and had briefcases, the man held it to the side while the woman held it with both hands in front of her. The man had black neatly cut hair while the woman had long neat brown hair that flowed down her back elegantly; who were these people?

"Hello Alice and…boy in Alice's hospital room." The man gave me a glare that sent chills down my back.

"Mom, Dad, what are you doing here?" Alice said nervously; so those are her parents, explains where she gets her death glare from.

"We thought we would visit you while we're on our lunch break." The woman said pulling out a small lunch bag with a gentle smile that made me melt inside a little; she was breathtaking and the suit made her look great.

"Before that, I have to ask who…THIS is." The father shot me a look that screamed I was dead if he didn't like the answer he got.

"This is my friend Soren. He's been visiting me for a few days now and that's it." Alice said as she gripped her covers, she was nervous like I was but the only one who would die would be me.

"Are you sure that's all?" He kept staring at me with that same stare.

"Y-Yes sir that is all I assure you nothing else was happening." I said scared for my life.

"Then you won't mind if I check if your libido is out of control." What!?

"Dad! Don't scare him, he's the only friend I've got and I would prefer if you didn't try to scare him out the door." Alice said trying to stop her father from giving me a body exam I which he might kill me for a bead of sweat over his daughter.

"Friend? Then you won't mind if we talk about your friendship with my daughter do you boy?" At this point I was pretty sure I might end up dead by the end of the day; I looked over to see Alice's mother had sat down on the bed and now pulled out her lunch and smiled as she watched her husband interrogate me.

"Ms. Blair, I'm guessing this isn't the first time this has happened?" She giggled.

"He's a smart one isn't he Alice." Alice gave a sigh as she shook her head.

"One time he signed me up for a big sister program but they ran out of girls and so I got a big brother; he lasted five minutes with my dad before he ran out of the room scared that my dad might kill him." I understand why, it was like looking into the eyes of the Terminator before he stole your clothes, boots and motorcycle; I'm guessing that standing up to him would have me end up in the same situation as that poor naked fool with the cigar.

"Pay attention boy. I'm asking the questions here." I turned my attention back to her father and took a deep breath as this would not be easy and I might smell like a bad onion by the end of it all, "When did you meet my daughter?"

"About…" Think Soren, you can't bring up the travel or he'll think you're insane and even if he believed it I spent a night in a tent with her; that statement might get my neck snapped, "three days ago, I was here visiting my sick grandma and while I was in the waiting room I decided to wander. After a few minutes I heard the sound of a video game being played from this room and so I entered she said hello and we started playing games together. We connected and soon I was visiting every day because she was actually a great person." As I finished up I looked over to see Alice was looking away with a light pink hue on her cheeks and her mother gave another giggle; when I looked back to her father he kept the same stone faced look staring directly at me, I swear he hasn't blinked for five minutes straight.

"Question two, how far in the relationship are you?" If I was drinking anything I might have spit it in his face once he asked that question.

"Friends, in every sense of the word, friends…nothing else…I swear." He continued to stare as I looked at Alice and her mother who seemed to be upset in different ways; Alice had a pissed expression while her mother shook her head and sighed with a gentle smile.

"Question three, under what circumstance have you and my daughter been in a compromising situation?"

"By compromising situation what do you-"

"Soren don't ask that question!" Alice shouted as I asked my question, "Dad I'm restricted to a hospital bed all day, how can I be caught in a compromising situation when I can't move?"

"He could have landed on the bed and then what?" He was quick to the draw with that answer.

"Are you a lawyer Mr. Blair?" I asked and he turned back to me.

"Yes but save all questions till the end…if you survive." This had to be the most uncomfortable situation I could ever be placed in. Seriously I could be staring down the barrel of a gun and it wouldn't amount to the danger and uncomfortable tension.

This went on for a few hours as Ms. Blair called their law firm and called in for an extended lunch until it became taking the rest of the day off; as we kept talking I could feel my heartrate triple in the time I spent with Mr. Blair as he asked question after question about me and Alice as the sweat pooled all over my body…I think my deodorant wasn't strong enough for this situation. We came to a point in which Alice and her mother were enjoying a hospital dinner with Alice eating her small cup of Jello.

"This is the longest anyone has lasted; usually he asks a question that makes the situation not worth it." Alice's mother said; it was understandable, he asked questions that were about every subject from situational happenings to sexual accidents to straight up intimate moment of a rather risqué area; honestly it took everything I had not to faint right there.

"I will give you praise, you have lasted longer than any other suiter I've interviewed." Interviewed? More like interrogation!

"Suiter? He's not that Dad!" Alice said turning a bright red.

"Last question, you have sat here answering all these questions for about four to six hours an after the last seventy three questions-"

"Seventy three questions of the most embarrassing moment of my life." Alice said rubbing her cheeks to take away the pink hue that had developed over the last few hours.

"Why have you sat here answering these? You could have walked away and come back when we didn't visit and we would have been none the wiser." I turned to Alice with a confused look on my face; someone had to have lived that story.

"A boy who visited me and then came back after running from my father, he miss timed the visit and ran into my dad again; I'm not sure what happened because he took him into a different room and then never came back." He might have lied to me, right now I feel like her father is a hitman and professional coverer of murders…including his own work.

"So answer me, why have you stuck it out?" …This question was easy.

"I trust her more than anyone else." He rose his eye brow and his mother gave a shocked look, I wasn't done yet though, "Because of her I was able to let go of my troubles that weighed around my neck and she was willing to accept me despite those problems, she took on my issues and I did the same for her and because of that I'm going to trust her for the rest of my life…I don't want to lose someone like her because I wasn't willing to fight to keep her around. As far as I was concerned whatever question you asked was worth it to keep her around." For the first time throughout the day I saw Mr. Blair recoil a little in surprise, and then he chuckled which was honestly scarier than him staring at me.

"My, my Alice, you really picked an interesting one." Her mother said giving a small laugh; I looked over to see Alice giving me a shocked look with a bright red face almost resembling a tomato.

"So Soren, do you mean every word you said?" Her dad turned to me with a serious look in his eye and instead of feeling the fear from before I felt courage rise in my heart, I knew the answer.

"Yes…every word." He gave me a smile and turned to back to Alice.

"Alice, it was good to see you and we'll make sure to visit you next week; maybe we'll see Soren again to." As he left the room Ms. Blair turned to me and motioned to meet her outside the door; when we got outside she came up close causing me to blush and began to whisper.

"You really hit it off with him well."

"Are you sure? I felt like he wanted me dead the entire time."

"He comes off a little intimidating but he cares about Alice very much…especially considering her current situation." I knew what she was talking about, the reason she spends all her time in the hospital, "Honestly the people who visited her only did so out of pity and they had no reason or obligation to stay calm under the circumstance you went through. We didn't want her to have people who only pitied her being with her. Those aren't friends that are reliable and that test proved that they didn't care enough about her." She gave a sad look as she said that, it tore her inside to think that her daughter had no friends she could rely on and it made me mad to think that they didn't care about her, "But when I saw you and my daughter talking earlier you two did something different from the rest."

"Really? What was it?"

"Every other person sat by her bed and didn't really talk with her the way you did. When you talked with her earlier you brought up her bedridden situation without a hint of hesitation, as though you've known each other for a long time." She then waved a finger in front of my face, "You should really come up with a better story then the one you came up with back there." She knew it was a lie? I guess if she's a lawyer then she would have seen through that piece of junk I came up with on the spot, "I don't know the real story but Alice seems to like you so I'll let it slide." She began to walk away and then turned around, "You know, you're the first person she's gotten flustered around when my husband asked you those questions." Really?

"Didn't she get flustered when he asked those questions to the first person at least?"

"Actually, my husband prepped her with the list of the question he would ask any of her male friends when she was fifteen and she only looked at the paper blankly at that time."

"…Hey was Alice cold to the others?" She gave me a look of slight surprise and smiled.

"You could be a detective with those skills of detection. Yes, with the others she never took off that iron mask that she held…in all honesty I believe that being here for so long made her less emotional and made her more cynical towards others. She never showed any emotion to the others, she would talk with them but she never really connected with them. Then you came along."

"Me?"

"When we saw you two talking I saw her crack a smile, it shocked me and her father quite a bit and when we entered it was like seeing a completely different version of her. Even if he didn't show it he's thankful. Whatever you did brought the cheerful girl back to the surface. From the bottom of my heart I thank you Soren. It means a lot to me and my husband to see her so emotional and happy with you, I hope you will continue to be her friend."

"You don't have to hope Ms. Blair; I will never stop being her friend." With that she gave me a hug and I felt my face heat up intensely.

Eventually they left and I headed back into Alice's room to see she was trying to look away.

"Sorry about all that, he's a little intense but he means well…I just didn't expect him to go through every question in the packet. It's so embarrassing." She shook her head with a small blush of embarrassment and I chuckled lightly, "What's so funny?" She asked acting annoyed.

"Nothing, just a talk with your mother revealed that I was the first interviewee you got flustered over when he asked those questions." Her blush grew deeper and she looked away before returning with a slight frown on her face.

"It's only because you're the first friend I've had that I don't want to lose…you're someone who if I lost you it means that my family is too intense for even the most trustworthy person I know."

"Not true at all." She looked up at me confused, "It just means that they don't deserve to be your friend, if they can't handle a five hour long questionnaire then they're not worth your trust. I don't want to lose you so it was well worth the effort." She began to laugh when I said that and didn't stop for a good minute.

"You're so weird, you know that? I expected you to run away after the fifty mark."

"Really?" She had that little faith in me?

"No, I knew you would make it. You did take a fire breath for me after all. I think it's safe to say that after doing that those questions were child play right?" I felt my skin crawl thinking about it.

"Honestly that was the most terrifying experience I've ever experienced. Going through that might have shaved about ten years off my life." I answered making her giggle, I didn't notice but her giggle is just like mothers; it was cute.

"Also I would appreciate it if you didn't ogle my mother like a dog in heat." And her death stare is definitely from her father's side of the family.


	23. Alice

Monotone, black and white that dominate the world as the most noticeable colors; yet when they are alone they're seen as bland and pale. On their own they give the world a boring and simple taste…or maybe it's because those who see the world that way associate it with those colors of intense light and intense dark. As for me I see black and white as remnants of the flavor of the world sapped away; every piece of color taken away leaving a husk that has no use and those in it who have caused it are no better…everyone is bland and tasteless.

My name is Alice Blair and I see this world in pure black and white colors; there's no exception to this, the people, the sky, everything is either a shade of black or white. Faces didn't matter to me, after all…what's left to see from a hospital window; everything around me is just another moment or experience that I have been denied since I was a child. Nothing was worth it anymore, everyone was just useless…of course…that included me; when I look into mirrors all I see is a strange black shape in the reflection where I should be, I came to expect that, after all…I was the most worthless of all.

Ever since I was able to walk I was fascinated by the world and everything it had to offer; nature was vibrant and green and gave me the feeling of an area to explore and an experience to live through and challenge. Everything I saw shinned with color and flavor that gave me thrills and pushed me to taste life. When I looked at my mother and father they shinned the brightest of all, even as lawyers they never let new experiences pass them by and always had the strength to take it on, they never feared the world or found it boring because they always had the courage to find something new about it; I wanted to be like them with all my heart.

One day as I was playing with my mother and father at the park when as my left foot stepped to the ground in a run it went limp and then I felt my other leg do the same; as I plummeted to the ground I felt something that only happened when I had no control of a dangerous situation…terror coursed through me as I fell to the dirt. My parents rushed me to the hospital and they ran multiple tests on me; when I looked over at my parents I saw that same look of terror across both of their faces and in that moment they shinned a little less than before. When the tests were over I was admitted to a room and stayed there for a full week as doctors and nurses checked in and did various test with me; as the days passed by I felt my appetite grow, the world was beyond those walls but I wasn't able to reach it. In that moment I watched as the room I was in turned monotone before my eyes for I had spent a week in this room and the flavor it had when I first arrived was now gone.

My parents took me home and when I entered our house everything seemed…less colorful, nothing had the same shine it held before and that's when I felt another rare emotion, fear; it enveloped me as I thought about how the wonder this place had before was now dimming and I couldn't comprehend why. I pushed those thoughts aside and got back to finding everything the world around me had to offer; however as I did this everything around me seemed dimmer and less vibrant than before, even new experiences seemed duller and devoid of the same amount of flavor I had sampled before. Luckily my parents shinned as brightly as ever, and then it happened again, my legs gave out and I felt terror seep back into my skin but as that happened I felt my body go numb and for the first time my mind did something I had never felt the need to do…it panicked.

When I awoke I was back in the colorless hospital room and to my right I could see a female doctor talking to my mom and dad; then the doctor shook her head sadly and my mother cried as she clutched my father with all her might…that was the first time I've ever seen my mother cry; I've been to plenty of mother's court cases but this was the first time I've seen her so weak in a situation of tension. After that my mother and father never shinned as brightly in my eyes as they did before.

Three years later I was still lying in that hospital bed in the monotone room, the world had turned less colorful year by year but I never gave up as my parents would always visit me giving me a chance to hear what they had done and the new experiences they had flavored giving me a small taste of the world outside leaving it still colorful in my eyes. Even after three years my parents never shinned like they use to after that day but I didn't mind, I still wanted to be like them and see the world with my own two eyes, I held that hope for five years longer as I sat in that bed waiting for the day I would leave and go back into the world full of the flavor I craved…then I read my file.

During one of my usual check-ups from my doctor, Dr. Verlais, she looked over a clipboard as we talked and she did her usual check on my body taking measurement and making sure my vitals were stable, standard stuff, her phone suddenly rang and she left the room leaving behind her clipboard with my data on it. Deciding this was worth checking I looked over the files she had on me; I skimmed through the basic stuff when something caught my attention, on my record it had my symptom and time of entry from eight years ago and below it was time of release…it said indefinite stay. Suddenly I felt my heart skip a beat in shock as I read that word and then the clipboard and every word on that page turned white; when Dr. Verlais came back in I asked her about this and she replied that my illness was prolonged due to my weak immune system meaning that my body had robbed me of the world I wanted to see so badly. She left me to contemplate this…and I cried; I cried and screamed in frustration, anger and depression as I realized I was going to possibly spend the rest of my life in this bed; when I finished crying I pulled my hands away to see they were no longer the rosy peach and were now pale white. Pulling a mirror to my face I saw my face was the same and my eyes were a dark black with no pupil…I had become monotone in my own eyes…because I realized that because of my body the world was out of reach and couldn't taste the flavor of the world…because I had no flavor to call my own. I found out that my parents knew all about this and tried to keep it secret from me, they didn't want me to worry but I didn't worry when I found out…everything just became stale. In that moment as I looked up at my parents with those worried expressions on their faces they turned the same monotone as the rest of the world…and stayed that way.

How long has it been? Never mind…I don't really care anyway; time stopped mattering longer than I can remember ago; this world was too black and white for me to care anyway. Everything and everyone was just a shape, nothing came in clearly anymore; items were just that and people were just shapes…people; why should I trust other? Those I trusted even more than anyone else lied to me, besides…no one wants a weak girl any way, even the games that once caught my attention were just pixels moving on a screen and there was no wonder. Everything in this world whether made or natural had no wonder for me, even if my parents tried to return that feeling it never worked; their shield had broken and I'd seen the scared faces behind them that drained any wonder from them for me. Was this where it ended? Was I done with this world already? Had my broken body done everything it could…this body was weaker than I thought it was…I wish I was someone else entirely…what's that light?

This world is new…my body can move… I can move freely…I don't have to stay in that room anymore! I ran through the field feeling the grass between my hands as I rolled along and took in everything I could excited to see something new…but…it was all still monotone colored. This world suffered the same as mine did…this world had no color, no flavor.

I knew that I had to do what the note said, there was nothing else to do; maybe by following the directions I would gain my lost flavor and see what this world had to offer for my new life, after all…I'm never going back to that dull world and that weak body. Deciding to break regular convention I headed for the third dungeon knowing I could go in any order I chose for these dungeons…for once it was my choice on what I wanted to do and I was going to do what I damned well pleased! Passing the threshold I pulled out my sword and rushed into the opening coming to a room with strange gelatinous figures moving around the room; I sliced at one and my blade passed through it like butter but it reformed back together. I sliced hastily hoping that they would break apart and stay that way but to no avail, soon they had surrounded me and I began to sweat with worry. As my brain raced the forms stopped moving around and began to solidify as the room seemed to heat up and turn whiter. I dispatched of the forms and looked over to see a tall figure facing me, someone else was here?

He told me his name was Soren but I didn't really care, he looked just like everyone else I have ever met…a humanoid form with no detail, didn't matter what he looked like anyway…if he was like me that made him weak and I don't want a reminder of my own weakness. He followed me through the whole dungeon and surprisingly showed his resourcefulness a few times…didn't change his weakness in my eyes. Eventually we came upon the boss room and hearing him scream I dug through the ground to find something round and chalky touch my hands…it must have been a skull…what the hell is this world!? The ground began to shift and a creature rose from the sand; as I rushed at it I felt something hot come at me and the next second I felt intense burning and pain before I passed out onto the floor.

When I woke up I looked to see my body was good as new without any damages or bruises from the fights in the dungeon; next to me was the boy who gave a relieved sigh…was he glad I was okay? After a bit of talking we came to the conclusion to work together for now…I couldn't trust him…he's just like everyone else. Acting nice but he's got to be lying to me…it was the only truth I could trust anymore.

After a bit of traveling we made it to the next dungeon and entered moving through it without too much resistance…it was emptier than it should be but that didn't matter to me…then we met him. As he spoke I felt my mind begin to lose itself to anger with every word he spewed! …breath Alice…breath…

"This fresh start won't stop what's happening in the real world. Your body won't hea-"

"SHUT UP!" My mind went blank as my vision completely faded turning everything black; I was still conscious but I wasn't in control anymore…my anger now ruled my mind, the only thing I could hear was Soren's voice trying to break through as I flailed and struck him returning to my assault of this creature in front of me with everything I had…what!? I felt the world return to my vision as someone stood in front of me blocking the attack that came at me…in that moment the boy shinned brighter than before and everything in the room came into full color for the first time in years. The boy in front of me had medium scruffy brown hair and wore a black trench cloak with matching black fingerless gloves and a red shirt with blue pants…he came in with colors that I haven't seen in years…was this Soren?

After he passed out I took over taking care of the three-headed dragon on my own…it was an actual thing instead of just a figure in the shadows; dispatching of it I grabbed Soren and headed for the golden colored Triforce piece touching it feeling the healing light consume us. When it was over we were outside and everything was back to monotone colors…no color was present anymore and the world still had no flavor. I looked down at Soren to see he was still colorful in my eyes…why? He still had the brown scruffy hair and light pink skin that I saw before and he came in clearer than anyone else or anything…what was he?

…I was right…he's just like everyone else! I sat in the square of the hidden village pissed off at Soren for not listening to me when I said this place wasn't good; whenever I looked at this place I saw people with fake smiles and content looks as they became like caged animals, becoming content with their imprisonment underground…like the hospital wanted me to become…and I almost did. Yet Soren seemed to not see it and it pissed me off…here I thought he might understand me, he might be the one I could trust and the one who could bring back the color I longed for…foolish! I left the village and headed out…without Soren, he was content as a caged animal and that was that…but even as I looked at him with anger he still had that color to him. Doesn't matter anyway…wait…what was that? I stopped and looked at the stationary grave to see it was a monument to the people of Kakariko Village…but that girl was…oh no! Soren!

As I rushed back everything was deftly silent as I rushed from tent to tent looking for Soren until I came upon it and saw the girl on top of him and kicked her off; I looked at Soren before being thrown at him and then we both looked to see the girl giving us a menacing smile as she grabbed Soren with a tail choking him; not on my watch! I struck her with the hilt of my blade and she dropped him and looked at me…I couldn't see her expression but I'm guessing it wasn't good.

After finishing up with her we were ejected from the shelter and I gave Soren and apology for the way I acted…I don't exactly know what compelled me to apologize but something inside screamed at me to give him an apology so…I did. He apologized as well and in that moment he became brighter in my eyes; he was just like every other boy I had met before but there was something different about him. It wasn't what he said…it's what he did that set him apart from the others…he gave his own body to protect me even after everything I did to him and he's willing to give me another chance even after abandoning him. His trusting nature seemed to draw me in and give me a feeling of safety and wonder as I looked at him…he was courageous and protective and a little dense when it came to some situations…but I couldn't resist his trusting nature to not be there for me. His voice wouldn't catch anyone but his actions would speak loud enough to hear the words he tried to express.

I followed him as he led us from dungeon to dungeon, defeating every enemy and becoming stronger…and as I followed him the world became brighter around us. Even as he fought his inner demons I followed and pulled him back from the depths he saved me from and as I felt fear pull me down as he looked me in the eye with rage his color didn't fade…because this wasn't him…this wasn't Soren and I knew Soren would never look at me like that. When I found out his past his shine never dimmed and as I told him my story I felt something inside flicker and begin to burn; as I stared at the fire I saw the fire burn a bright orange and the gray of the cave walls turn to a slight hue of brown…flavor returned around me as I spoke and he listened intently. At the end of it all we stood up and looked at each other with a new sense of understanding about each other and as the sun rose I saw the world turn orange under its light and I almost felt like crying…this was the flavor I had longed for.

The adventure eventually came to an end and as it did I felt exhilaration and sadness as I sat next to Soren waiting to go back to my world…when this began I thought I was going to stay here forever but now I want to go back…I want to see the color return to the world I grew up in. With everything that has happened I just want to see my world with the flavors I had seen return in my own eyes, I'm even excited to see other people and find out more about my world when I leave the hospital because…I can't give up…I promised Soren I would fight to see the world beyond the hospital again and I want to, with all my heart, be able to experience the world again. As we sat waiting for whatever would happen to take us back Soren asked me a question.

"Tell me where do you live?" He wanted to know where I live? Even if were not from the same world he wants to see me again, "I want to believe in that one in a million chance that we'll meet again, don't you?" I held back every fiber of my being not to cry, I've acted tough throughout all of this and now with one question I felt like tearing up from the idea that I could see him again…of course I wanted to see him again, I could never forget this boy; he was too trustworthy, more than a little stupid, and completely over impulsive and kind…but I never want to lose him. He helped me regain my own self-worth and flavor, he stood by me through thick and thin to make it to the end of this and I don't want to lose him after all this…I'll take his chance.

"I live in Aurora Colorado.

I woke up in my hospital bed and the world was different, it was my hospital room but everything I looked at had a new color to it I had never seen before, it wasn't the world I knew, it was brand new…and yet the same. As I looked at everything around me I watched as someone opened the door and he stood there shining bright enough to make everything around him become brighter…it was Soren; I felt myself begin to cry, and I pulled him into a hug feeling my tears pool out of my eyes like a faucet; I didn't care though…the one person who had brought me back from the brink was here and he was real…I didn't care if everyone else said he was nothing, that he was only okay or just slightly cool, to me he was the greatest person anyone could ever know and for the rest of my life he will shine brighter than anyone else in my eyes, because he wasn't just a flavor to dry up, he was an ever changing experience that I could taste over and over again and always go back in again a million times over. He wasn't just colors or a person…he was more than that to me, he was the reason my flavor returned and he was my most trusted partner that I would never see as dull ever again. My world would never go empty again as long as he was there and I would never let him go because he was my most trusted partner, my best friend, and my reason to walk again.

From that day on, every time I was with him the world shinned brighter than when I was by myself.


End file.
